18th May 2010
Posted in Updates

The Honolulu Advertiser has taken notice of the efforts of Hawaii Reserves, Inc., Brigham Young University–Hawaii and The Polynesian Cultural Center to recycle waste vegetable oil and process it into biodisel for HRI’s equipment and soap for BYU–Hawaii Food Services.

Daniel Scott, a biochemistry and chemistry professor at BYUH, said the research project took recycling to a different level and taught students the value of resources such as waste oil.

Scott said the goal was to produce a soap that smelled good, moisturized the hands and provided antibacterial protection. They settled on a foaming liquid hand soap.

He said he’s seen a comparable soap on the Internet for $45 a liter. “We can make a liter of soap for about $2,” Scott said. “I can’t imagine it costing them more them $4 a liter.”

The soap is used by BYUH food services, including in the dining hall.

Several students worked as paid researchers on the project, including Misheel Batsaikhan, a senior in biochemistry. Her first task was to make the soap with nice fragrances and color, Batsaikhan said. A series of trials had poor results including unpleasant colors and a watery product, she said.

Probably the worst experience she had with the project was when she tried to short-cut a procedure to siphon soap from a large container into a smaller one. She ended up swallowing a mouthful of soap.

“It was really gross,” Batsaikhan said. “It smells nice and it’s good soap, but swallowing is not recommended.”

She said this is the best job she has had.

“I never thought any research would be so much fun,” Batsaikhan said. “I just feel like I’m an artist.”