Environmental Impact of Oil and Soap Industry in Egypt: State of Practice

Abstract

Oil and soap industries are considered inseparable industries, as the raw materials used in soap industry are oil and fats that are extracted from oil industry. Egypt has several private and public factories working in this industry to meet the demand, on the other hand, the pollution load resulting from both processes is huge and require attention as not to harm the environment.In this research, the production processes of both products are illustrated, after that the pollution sources are pointed out. The pollution control and mitigation techniques used to reduce the environmental impact are illustrated and represented as pre-process pollution prevention, in-process modifications and end of pipe treatment. In solvent extraction process; the widely used solvent is n-hexane, however it has several impacts such as toxicity, harmfulness, and high precautions in handling and disposal. Consequently; an eco-friendly alternative for solvent extraction is mentioned to reduce the negative impact of hexane.

Keywords

• edible oil
• soap
• environmental impact