# Cleaner Processes for Making Laundry Soap from Vegetable Oils and an Essential Oil
## 4 Conclusions  
The novelty of this article consists of the design of saponification recipes and the way in which the cleaning capacity of the formulated soaps is highlighted. Thus, by choosing two types of vegetable oils, in certain proportions, in which saturated fatty acids predominate (in coconut oil) or are in small quantities (in olive oil), the aim is to balance some antagonistic effects given by these oils so that the final quality of the soaps can be good in terms of cleaning capacity, hardness, texture, foam, smell, stability and durability during storage. Using vegetable oils (70.42% (\(w/w\)), olive pomace oil and 29.58% (\(w/w\)) coconut oil 76 degrees), ecological soaps are formulated, by hot and cold saponification. The SAP value of the oil mixture is 205.83 mg KOH/g oils, which means that the oil mixture has a good saponification capacity of triglycerides; the low value for the IN (62.61 g iodine/100 g oils) indicates that the soaps contain unsaturated fatty acids in small quantities, saturated fatty acids in large quantities, and the resulting soap tends to exhibit greater hardness. The low IN values confirm that the rancidity phenomenon, which is usually associated with a change in color towards brown, does not occur during long-term storage. The inclusion of an essential oil (Neem in CS2 and HS2), Tea Tree (in CS3 and HS3) and Thyme (in CS4 and HS4), increases the washing capacity of the soap and confers antimicrobial effects, preventing microbial multiplication. The results of UV-VIS analyses confirm the presence of the essential oil both in the soaps dissolved in saline and in cotton samples washed with these soaps by analyzing the ethanol solutions in which the washed (at 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C or 95 \({}^{\circ}\)C) and rinsed (several times) cotton samples are kept. The excellent washing capacities of the formulated soaps, by hot or cold saponification, are demonstrated by very low Hs values and very high values for PC: Hs takes values between 1.07% and 2.53% after washing with CS4 and CS2, and 1.54% for HS4 and 2.12% for HS1. The cleanability power (expressed in percentage) is 92.16% when using the CS4 soap, and 88.47% when using the HS4 soap; the other soaps lead to PC values ranging from 88.47 to 92.16%. The HS1, HS2, HS3, HS4, CS3 and CS4 soaps passed the CMC test, which means that the color difference between the cotton sample before being soiled with used engine oil and the color obtained after washing with these soaps are of less than 1. Being sodium salts, the formulated soaps dissolve in water; they generate alkaline solutions (pH close to 10), and moderate foam after shaking, as is characteristic of laundry soaps used in washing machines. The color of the hot- or cold-formulated soaps is slightly yellowish-greenish (from the color of the predominant oil, olive pomace oil) and did not change. With these physical and chemical characteristics, the formulated soaps could be used for washing clothes at home or even in hospitals to destroy microbes and disinfect sheets, pajamas, blankets, and other textiles in the operating room. However, before using them in hospitals, further research is needed to identify the types of microbes and fungi that these soaps can destroy. The following supporting information can be downloaded at: [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app15073821/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app15073821/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app15073821/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app15073821/s1)), Figure S1: EDX plots for hot-formulated soaps; Figure S2: EDX plots for cold-formulated soaps; Figure S3: TGA and DTA spectra of hot-formulated soaps; Figure S4: TGA and DTA spectra of cold-formulated soaps. Conceptualization, V.P. and V.-G.S. ; methodology, V.-G.S., V.V. and C.M.R. ; software, G.P. and A.P. ; investigation, V.-G.S., V.V., G.P., C.M.R. and A.P. ; writing--original draft preparation, V.-G.S. and V.P. ; writing--review and editing, A.P. ; visualization, V.-G.S., V.P., V.V., G.P., C.M.R. and A.P. ; supervision, V.P.