Turning soap into oil and making French fries
In my previous video, I made soap from vegetable oil. It got me wondering, is it possible to go backwards? Can I make oil from soap?
This is my first attempt to do this and I think I will try it again in the future. I wouldn't use the same procedure though, because I don't think this one was too good. The high heat let to a lot of glycerol breaking down and I think a lot of side reactions.
Method I followed for this video: goo.gl/OltwDL
Other possible method: goo.gl/ELZbSo
Link to triglyceride pathway: goo.gl/wCBVh8
Link to soap video (Part 1): kzhead.info/sun/qLF7lbyApYmepn0/bejne.html
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Nile talks about lab safety: kzhead.info/sun/mdh6c7d9gWh6jXk/bejne.html
The things you do for french fries.
Makes me question if he's a fan of tetrohydrocannibinol and cannabidiol.... 🤔😂
@@xpndblhero5170 Look at his eyes man, he be fkn glazed in some videos lol
@@maxkax9241 - 🤣🤣🤣 That is so spot on.... You can definitely tell he's toasted as hell in some videos. LMAO
The things I do for love...
I don't even want to know what he would do for a Klondike bar...
"So I went over to his lab. Ran a sample. And then proceeded to be sad."
I would say that too
It actually went just like that, IR takes around 2 minutes to do^^
Yep that sums up like 90% of my research experience.
syntheticchem.txt
16:00 for anyone who wants to proceed to being sad
I’m a professional soap maker - I make cold process soap using a combination of oils, just as described in this video. In my professional opinion, that soap was COLOURED using some sort of artificial colourant. If you make a pure olive oil soap - even using extra virgin olive oil (which is usually dark greenish) - the final soap is usually a pale yellow or pale greenish colour. I’ve never seen a naturally coloured soap turn a dark green like that!
Yeah they probably used a “natural color” (like dye made from vegetables) just so they could say it wasn’t artificial, but it wasn’t from the olives
some of my favorite soaps to make at my mom's shop are coconut carbon they turn pure black and cure to about a greyish black look very pretty.
Maybe they used really high quality cold pressed olive oil? They're really green. Or it will be still pale?
@@ChristopherFelicitas - I’ve used olive oil fresh from the olives (my neighbours family owns an olive plantation in Lebanon. The olive oil is much greener and much stronger tasting than what you can buy in the stores in bottles. It takes about a year for the flavour to mellow). Despite the olive oil being a deep green colour when it’s really fresh, the soap is a yellow / beige colour. .
@@lostcontrol1981 Didn't know that, thanks for the information. That soap he used definitely is using dyes.
I saw the thumbnail before the title and somehow assumed that you were gonna make soap into potatoes and I got very concerned at your potential to break every law of existence in 21 minutes.
No same🤦♀️😂
"After I failed, I was pretty sad, because I wasn't able to make oil for my french fries." big mood nile, big mood indeed
E
A Sports I T S I N T H E G A M E
NILEISM GIVE THIS MAN A PRIZE
... Nigel....
@@Ultrabeast-ok2ou nigel is his real name but this guy called him by the first half of his username, is there a problem here?
Something I've learned from Mythbusters: Failure is a result.
F**K mythbusters!!!
@@basevegeta9424 No.
@@incognitoburrito6020 don't kink shame him ;)
@@Valsorayu ok that's a different answer
@@whiscer3888 the best way to resolve an issue is to make it weird.
"Turning soap into oil" Obi-Wan: You have become the very thing you swore to destroy
Imagine ordering fries at a restaurant and then in the kitchen you saw a mad scientist doing his wizardry 🧙
That would be very funny
I read this title wrong and thought it said 'converting soap into French fries' okay back to bed
Mary Colomaio *A month later* (newsletter title) McDonalds serving fresh straight from the field fries made from soap. They used some youtubers way of doing it and they claim it is completly harmless. *Two months later* McDonalds client died because they got french fries that tasted like eucaliptus. Apparatly the aroma was also toxic. We will update you later on this horrible story.
i literally thought that was the title, i had to go back and read it again lmao
My whole life is a lie
Same
Have you woke up yet?
Please don't hesitate to show the "failures", they are an important part of any scientific/engineering endeavor which people rarely get to learn about!
Accidents aren't important. You seem to think you are, however.
@@katherinelee313 rude
@@Sonicdude3 is it not true?
@@katherinelee313 accidents in science are part of the learning process to show you what and what not to do
@@Sonicdude3 yup I agree
I am so dumb. I read the thumbnail and thought he turned soap into fries 💀
You know, that would have been a much better video... Too bad...
Fr 😭
I think that was an absolutely crazy endeavour but sooooooooo fascinating! I could not resist watching the video, almost 5 years after it was posted. Keep up with this type of experiment. It's bonkers, but so are we and it is such a relief from boring routine life. Thank you for being you! (March the 30th, 2022)
hey Neill, please don't use Erlenmeyer flask for vacuum distillation (or anything else involving vacuum). You should use round-bottom flasks instead. most of the time it's fine, but sometimes they break. it happend to my supervisor and me a few months ago, and he had serious chemical burns (the flask contained oleylamine). he is fine right now, but please be careful! this could happen to you as well.
Is that why they come with vacuum ports on them?
kleetus92 just because you can doesn't mean you should. Lab conduct is meant to avoid as many dangers as possible so I would say that it is an unneeded danger to use a flat bottomed flask on a vacuum distiller.
they come with an vacuum port to use them in vacuum filtration. In this case they usually are pretty thick walled and dont get heated so strong as in the video. Round Flasks are the best option when it comes to vacuum destillation, because they can dissipated the pressure from outside evenly over the whole surface.
The safety of an Erlenmeyer flask is dependent on the strength of the vacuum used. With low to medium vacuum it should be fine, but a round bottom flask will stand up much better to high vacuum forces due to its inherent design.
That is true, Erlenmeyer flask are mostly used for vacuum filtration with a Büchner funnel but not for Destillation. Also they have a special coating on the outside to prevent implosion.
"anyway, that's about it for this failure of a video" Mate you're so funny, we want backstages!
I should be a comedian.
NileRed so now your gonna be the George Carlin of chemistry. So how are you planning on getting hauled before Congress, the seven chem experiments the general public shouldnt know? lol
@@NileRed tbh i am very jealous of your humour. Keep it up!
@@NileRedngl but you should lol
@@NileRed and if anyone boos you out just remind them of you're expertise in chemical warfare
“In my little fantasy, I imagined eating the fries.” - Nilered What a fantasy to have. To make fries from soap.
Sound great
As a first year organic chem student its really cool to see these reactions applied. Helps me remember how they work too! Thanks nile :)
11:48 "The smoking fatty acids are technically a fire hazard. ANYWAY.." 😂 Lab safety is Nile's passion
Agreed, in his other videos, he also mentions safety alot like the mercury thiocyanate one.
dude, it's in a fume hood it's fine
@@martijnvangelder1902 it's a joke
"THE SAFETY CODE IS MORE OF A GUIDELINE!"
It wasn't always, earlier videos were done in his parents garage or outside 😂
Hey NileRed, ever thought of trying this again? I'd love to see another attempt, especially with all the knowledge and experience you've surely gained since
Up
Up
pU
@@arnavtete7793 cloud
Up
Your old videos were gone for a while and now they're back! I was a little sad, thanks for putting them back up :)))
This channel is an absolute gemstone.
“Cutting the soap into larger pieces will cause a lot of pain” also Nile: “after a lot of pain...”
Nilered:*Talking in scientific terms* Me:”Ahaha I like your funny words magic man!”
I was searching through this video to find ur comment lol
stolen
@@two67gh I mean at this point 99% of comments are stolen
@@two67gh even what you said was stolen
@@justatroll6263 even what you said was stolen
I appreciate you not wasting my time and letting me know within the first minute you didn't get it working.
This channel is pretty much alchemy and I love it.
"Smoking fatty acids" That was the name of my first band
11:40
Nile, this was such a genuinely fantastic video. Even though it didn't turn out, you really tried and made a phenomenal video about it. Your use of white and dark gray backdrops make for a beautiful and clean video with high production quality. I'm a big fan now, for sure!
+APOSTOL thanks! I am glad you liked it :)
@@NileRed come on, it's already been 5 years, you've gained a lot of experience, now do this experiment again and this time you'll succeed, I believe in you👍
Hearing the words “glycerol backbone” next to “3 fatty acid tails” gave me biology class ptsd
This guy is the reason I actually love chemistry I hate school cemetery but he teaches while making it funny and very interesting
adults using bounce houses RISKS not telling the ages apart
Judging from the consistency of what came out of that flask that you cleaned, I'm pretty sure I've identified the crud that appears in ordinary kitchen drain sink pipes... And this video goes in depth explaining how it gets formed, essentially soap that gets exposed to acids in food/laundry residue forming fatty acids. I find that super fascinating! And drain cleaners that are strong bases.... convert those fatty acids back into soap, which should be soluble in water. Really great information!
🤯🤯🤯
Looks like crude oil too.
NileRed t-shirt: "Anyway..."
no
I need this
"Oh well"
"However..."
I heard a lot about the fabricating process of soap involving oil (i did a work on my college explaining the differences between soap and detergent). But the inverse process I've never expect or knew about. Really, i'm surprised how the process is very difficult but i enjoyed your video, it was a really good class of chemistry!
when it came to chemistry formulas, i knew i didn't understand anything, but still really good job, love it
"The gases coming off are very irritating and can damage your nose or lungs....................Anyway" 😂😂
Maybe you could make your own "pure" soap and then make the reverse process. It takes more time, but maybe it's worth it. I like your videos. 👍🏼👍🏼
could not agree more. I was a soap maker, and have extracted olive oil many times, and the soap he started with is nowhere near "pure"; the color alone gives it away. and if they lie on the label, well...
I used the oils to make the oils
Good idea indeed
@@ricardocosson1105 I was thinking exactly that, I've made soap with virgin olive oil from our own olive trees and the soap I got out of it was quite white, definitely not green
@@ricardocosson1105i bet those people are the type who think it only counts as additives if its not "natural" - they prob added some natural green color.
Nile I am begging you to never stop
Do you ever just stare at a NileRed title for a bit and just respond with "....sure." before clicking? Because this one gave me that feeling the most out of any of his videos, even though it's far from the most bizarre concept he's presented
The US government when they find out they can get oil from soap: Hippity hoppity this dish soap is now my property
69th like
@@redeye6915 nice
No, you aren’t very cool.
@@jayw9267 good luck losing reputation
@@pearadiss shut your mouth bud
I just wanna say your content really makes me happy and honestly comforts me so much. I don’t understand chemistry beyond junior high basics, yet somehow I’m completely addicted to your videos. I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but I literally fall asleep watching these. I struggle with falling asleep because of sensory issues associated with autism and restlessness because of adhd. And you put me to sleep (in a good way!!!) almost immediately. Came for the epic chemistry content, stayed for the soothing voice and audio ambien.
Same! His videos are so intriguing :) and they help me calm down in time for bed :4
Me too! They keep my brain occupied enough to keep the adhd and background anxiety quiet enough to sleep.
Failure is just a learning step to success. I would really love to see you keep trying this. I know it probably isn't worth your time, but I know if you keep trying you will succeed at this.
This is chemistry and everything possible!!! (Learned From this channel)
Hey Nile, you should try extracting nicotine from some tobacco.
Also would like to see extraction of Mitragynine and Hydroxy-Mitragynine from Kratom ;) Should be a straight forward acid base extraction, the question is at what pH level will it crash out. Probably would be best to bind it as a calcium-citrate, then convert it to sulfate which is not very water soluble. It's still a legal substance in most of the US and possibly Canada too.
@@BillAnt Also extract DMT from Mimosa Hostilis root bark.
@rockyboi742 < Kratom is legal, but I believe DMT is scheduled in the US, not sure about Canada. We gotta suggest substances which are legal, ya know ;)
@@BillAnt, Mimosa isnt :)
Could nicotine be extracted from juul pods?
I found value in this. Benchwork isn't a series of continuous wins, but following your reasoning and work is enjoyable.
I can't resist myself watching your videos in certain times like 3:00am
American government: *"write that down! write that down!!!'*
Cheap greedy corporations:
I think it's really great that you show your failures and not just successes. I feel like i learn a lot from both and you do a great job explaining things enough that i can understand and interest me enough to look up and research more about the stuff i didn't understand. Thanks for doing what you do man
Hi, Nile, I'm not an expert in IR spectroscopy, but in an spectrum of an acid there's a wide peak above 3000 cm^-1 and in this case there is not so there is no O-H bond vibration. I would say that you got an ester, maybe not triglycerides, but not an acid.
That's what I was saying!
Totally agree! I think there is no acid
You're right that there would be an acid peak above 3000, but he has no C-O peaks. So definitely not an ester.
@@esequieltovar4955 Same here mate
Whilst I thought the same, the lit. IR of oleic acid did similarly lack the obvious OH signal I would expect, so I'm under the impression he's right.
I love how explained every bit of the process, like the need to crank up the heat to shift the equilibrium favorably, then the reaction mechanism of the zinc chloride catalyzed reaction and even the process of interpreting the IR data. Really gave me a good refresher on everything chemistry. And yes, I would love to watch some enzymatic processes on your channel, the biochemistry nerd in me is excited!!
1,373,348 views? I wouldn't call this video a "failure". It entertained a great many people. A success for sure!
“The footage here is kind of funny, and i don’t have to tell you what i think it looks like.” Lmao😌
Is that the good emoji?
69th like lol noice
20:19
Oooo~ french fries Reads ingredients: 100% soap
Feeling very happy that youtube exists after seeing such kind of channels
So, New comment on old video. I love how you used to explain the reactions. Your current videos are good, though I love the explanation as I can pretend I understand it all. 😁
I just love chem videos at 2 am in the mornin
Hello everybody and welcome to the NileRed Cooking show! Today we will be making the classic French fries.
...out of soap
If u don’t have reconstituted triglyceride oil, store bought is fine.
And then we'll wash it down with some grape soda! (Made out of gloves.)
With a side of hot sauce made out of gloves!
i watch your videos to sleep. thanks nile 😻🤞
This video immediately made me think of yucca root, which is sometimes used to make fries, but also contain triterpene glycosides that are used to make soap. The triterpene glycosides are destroyed when heated which is what makes the root safe to eat. It would be really cool to somehow use the triterpene glycosides to make oil, to fry the yucca fries in. On a side note I often watch KZhead in the shower and happened to be using the same olive oil soap which I found funny
Would absolutely like to see more "failures!" In a culture so hyperobsessed with perfection and success, it's important to know that things don't always go as planned, but they can still teach us things.
I love Nile's videos and admire him as a chemist. I will have my final chemistry exam at school tomorrow and learnd a lot of "soft skills" I guess from his videos. But at 11:08 the positive charge of one oxigen atom after the elimination of water is missing... Thanks Nile for your work!
5:21 our plumber actually said that my family's house has water with a PH of 2 so I thought this was strange until I looked at an acidity chart. The tap water at my house is equivalent to lemon juice 💀👍 Edit: wait this explains why we are always buying water bottles
i dont know much about that sort of thing but isnt that a safty hazard and therefore should be fixed by your landlord?
@@teeth7768 I’m no expert, but based on my rudimentary knowledge-this issue wouldn’t be simply a health “hazard,” it could be downright toxic if left to fester for long. Definitely should be checked out and addressed as soon as possible.
@@germain450 Especially since acidic solutions tend to corrode metals
I did this today by accident and now I'm watching this video again to have it confirmed that my brain's as smooth as baby cheeks 😂 I've mixed savon noir, water and a ton of citric acid thinking I had made a bomb bath cleaner. I refused to give up after fvcking up the sink and covered the bath tub AND the shower in a nice'n thicc fatty film. I don't know if I should laugh or cry, but that moment of sudden clarity when thinking about what I had done from a chemist's point of view was hilarious.
Perfect timing Nile, i am currently writing an assignment about the oxidation of paraffins to fatty acids, and the esterfication to edible fats, which you just covered !. Maybe the process would be an interesting topic for a future video. It is called the Imhausen-Prosch process, making butter from coal by chemical means was a sensation in the 1930s.
1930s chemistry must've been so wild.... bunch of dudes boiling random things
p-toluenesulfonic acid does sound like a much better catalyst for this reaction. And you may want to apply a vacuum to the esterification reaction, so that you can remove the water at lower temperature, without risking to decompose your glycerol. (Which I think is why your reaction failed.) Also, I don't want to sound elitist, but I really wouldn't trust that paper you mentioned. Their temperature control was done using the hotplate's thermostat (so the actual reaction temperature is much lower than the one they indicate, but it's impossible to tell by how much), all they used for characterizing their products is thin layer chromatography, no NMR or IR, etc... There's a reason it was published in one of the lowest ranking peer-reviewed journals.
+piranha031091 ha yeah, I do know what you mean. Although paper rank doesn't mean everything, it does matter. I think the other paper seems a lot more credible. I might try it again that way sometime in the future. Or maybe even another way if in find one
To me the real killer here is that you properly measured temperature with a thermometer in the reaction flask, and had your reaction mixture partly decompose, likely due to overheating. Since they measured temperature the _wrong_ way with the hotplate's thermostat, they likely carried the actual reaction way below 195°C, which explains why you couldn't reproduce their results.
That is actually a really really good point. It is possible that they were at like 150C or less. That time when doing things properly results in failure, ha.
NileRed why don't you do the vaccum filtration first before estarification reaction? If your final product contains mostly Oleic acid, if you do filtration earlier, you might get much cleaner product. Anyway, I am not a chemist. So, I may be completely wrong.
Well if they were going by the thermostat on the heating plate then there is no way they could tell the temperature of the solution. think about it this way; if you put water on a hot plate at 500 degrees how hot is that water when it's boiling? it's still only 100 degrees
i like your words, magic man!
5 years later. I mean I didn't watch this when I was 5- but still best video ever 😌
Well you could use Hydroxylamine HCl and an Iron salt to identify an ester bond. If it appears red, then the reaction is successful and fatty acids do not cause false results. Great video though :D
hmm i had no idea
It forms a hydroxamic acid which then complexes the iron ion and gives a blood red colour. Try it next time!
Hey Nile, would you be interested in making usable PLA from corn starch? That would get you a bunch of views from the 3D print guys :D
Edgar Brucke And I would surely watch that video
Or bioplastics in general really
Bioplastics.... Future.. pure Cellulose is just like plastic.... got crazy when i found
Ummm, well call me when you can injection mould and print cellulose :P No, but seriously, PLA is a pretty common thing nowadays, among other bioplastics...
Are bioplastics thermo plastics or thermosetting plastics? If they're Thermo-plastics that can mixed with a curing agent to harden them, then that would be pretty good to use for making some decent 3D printed plastic parts. Cellulose is a lot easier to make than Synthetic Oil, so as a means of plastics it's a better way to go. Fuel wise, alcohol, hydrogen, fusion & synthetic oils are better though.
Nile's best quote "To do this..."
chemistry: THIS is impossible NileRed : Grate the soap
Nile’s wife: “Honey we ran out of oil..can you go buy some at the store?” Nile: “But We have oil at home” **Oil at home**
What's she need oil for?
@@mattlogue1300 cooking?
This is really cool. Doing forward then reverse reactions is definitely interesting and educational. Thankyou nilered
haven't watched the video. Turning soap into oil sounds interesting, but turning it into potatoes sounds downright impressive. Looking forward to it.
Your channel is amazing
Awesome video! I’d love to see more like these, the end result really doesn’t matter, I’d rather see every single reaction you attempt rather than just successful ones. Keep it up!
Dude, the production on this new video is top fucking notch. Kudos.
Watching Nile while high is my favorite pastime
I’m hungry as hell and fn addicted to this channel
Don't call it a failure. It's an unintended result.
He found another way that wwon't work.
There's a missing positive charge on the oxonium intermediate at 11:13
RIP :(
haha RIP NileRed
you must be fun at parties lol
@@Rcmkney23 bruh,this is literally a nerdy Chem channel. Nobody’s fun at parties here.
@@Rcmkney23imagine being mad that someone corrected false information about chemistry in a chemistry video
Thanks again for this concrete video!
This is so much more educational than Fight Club.
I actually really enjoyed this video! I did a Mohr titration in high school that completely failed and ended with a *3,000%* error, but it only motivated me to try again in the future. At least you got your French fries...even if they weren't edible. xD I really like these exploratory videos, as I believe this is what chemistry is all about. :) It wouldn't be as fun as it is without trial and error. Once you do get it right, it's an incredible feeling! I'm completely being honest here: Your videos inspired me to pursue a chemistry minor in college in addition to a neuroscience major. I never thought I'd be here, but I love chemistry too much to abandon it! Thank you Nile Red!
seeing the title in another youtube's channel:yeah that would be a french fries shaped soap! sounds so cute! seeing the title here:oh yeah he's literally going to make french fries with soap as a main ingredient......wait what?!
Algeria currently is having issues providing oil , and it’s becoming rare as hell , this video might be useful when the oil jugs we have runout thanks nilered.
this is awesome
This guy: "Converting Soap to Oil and..." America: "Say no more!" * Insert "America Invading for Oil"-meme *
He's making Freedom Fries...
Finally a video!! I am always looking forward to your videos!
20:25 We know. We know.😂
Nile is a true alchemist
4:06 *F O R B I D D E N P A R M E S E A N*
forbidden parmesean seems tas- *dies*
20:22 . All the effort was worth it just for this footage and your comment :D I know I'm 2 years late :D
So.....Master Nile starts a 22 minute video saying the end product doesn't work. But 2.1 MILLLION people- *cough sheep- still watch. 👏👏👏👏👏👏 Well done, master. Well done. EDIT: I don't care if I'm late by 4 years. It's taken me this long to actually perfect the instructions given in this video. My new restaurant- "Soapy Fries inc" is about to open up locations in Detroit, Jacksonville, and Compton. Wish me luck!
Why dose the way Neil’s saying fatty acids feels like an insult 😭😭😭😭
T t clizz
hey next time maybe you could try un-burning toast, but actually, maybe reversing things that dont seem reversable could be a topic
he cant photosynthesize toast
I thought burning was un-reversible?
You can un-toast toast but unfortunately burning is not reversible ( I guess)
19:54 I had to wear a mask and keep things really well ventilated or else my eyes would start burning. After a few minutes I took them out- I swear I thought you meant your eyes for a hot sec and was confused. It helped that I had the video on in the background and wasn't watching you take _the fries_ out.
NileRed is an absolute madlad
dude, you are the modern alchemist!
Hey NileRed, I liked this video a lot... it reminded me things like entropy, and how paper can´t be made out of ashes... but i´m digressing. How you washed the flask at 20:12, it occured to me, if possible, if you could make a series of how to wash glass material from hard-to-clean residues, as this one... because, at least for me, it would be extremely useful. anyway, thanks for the chem, bye!
Waiting for Attemt 2,please NileRed, i've been thinking about it since the day i learned how oil soaps were made.
So... I've been studying organic chemistry this past semester and i gotta say several things 1. You don't have any carboxylic acids in this and i suspect you may have a ketone and not an ester. 2. The reason you had a ketone and not an ester is due to the fact that you used a weak catalyst that actually stopped the reaction at a ketone. I'd say i'd prefer having an acid because then i would've tried to reduce the acidic H+ then attack with that to create the oil. I love your videos! Keep up the good work!
My favorite thing to observe was at 6:00 where the glass rod seemed to have disappeared completely underneath the acid