DIY hand sanitizer

Today I made my own alcohol based hand sanitizer (80%). I made it with Isoproply Alcohol, water, Aloe Vera liquid, Vitamin E oil and Tea Tree oil.
For the water I used my own fresh RO water (3ppm) but distilled or deionized water will work aswell. Preferably don't use tap water as it containes other ingredients and chemicals. Our water contains a lot of Chlorine, which isn't so nice. The alcohol is the main active ingredient, the water to dilute it a bit and the Aloe, Vitamin E and Tea Tree to stop your hands drying out and adds a little fragrance too.
You will need something to measure the water and alcohol and preferably pippettes or droppers. I used chemistry gear as I have some but you can use what you have. You can also play about with the Aloe, Vitamin E and Tea Tree quantities to suit. I played about and found the quantities below to be my preference. Too much Aloe or Vit E oil and hands feel a little slimey, too little and hands feel dry. It does dry the skin a little so if used a lot then a skin moisturizer would be handy.

Ingredients to make 100ml - Scale up for larger quantities.

• 80ml Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) 99.9%
• 20ml pure water
• 20 drops Aloe Vera liquid
• 10 drops Vitamin E oil
• 10 drops Tea Tree oil

Basically just mix them all together. The Vitamin E oil doesnt mix well with the alcohol and water and does settle a bit, so a vigerous shake is necessary before application. I found a spray bottle to work best for application as the liquid is not very viscous and tends to go everywhere when shook in a pump type dispenser. I bought the alcohol from ebay (£26.50 for 5 litres inc delivery) and the rest from Amazon. It all came to about £50 but I can make about 6 litres of hand sanitizer with the ingredients. Let me know if you want the links for the Amazon stuff. The ebay seller has increased the price of 5l alcohol to £50 + postage due to the COCID-19 outbreak. It really pisses me off when people capitalize on disasters....

ETA: The oils have mainly disolved after a few hours and is working a treat. I will still shake it a little before use but doesn't need as much as when I first made it.

That's a great receipe.

I have bought 4 1L trigger spray bottles from B+Q, they're pretty good quality, decent thickness bottles from the bargain baskets. £1 ea

I just slammed IPA into them and didn't add anything else and dual apply before getting back into car after shops etc. There is an argument that ~70% is best to help the alcohol stick around for a bit longer before evaporating.

IPA is going up in price a lot now. I've ordered some a week or so back, but it hasn't arrived :/

I think the next step when IPA is short might be a moderately strong bleachy solution with a little soap, followed by a water rinse. Would have to carry two sprays then. Maybe even something like a 1/2 scoop of OxyActionMax, when bleach becomes in short supply, if it does.

Plenty of options left if SHTF more than it already has.

Another option is 0.1% benzalkonium chloride with water. It is the foamy type hand sanitizer but requires a special pump bottle that makes it foam up. I is pretty nasty stuff in higher than 1% concentration. It looks like it is a liquid so should be easy to mix.
The alcohol based sanitizer could be made with 70% instead of 80%, or whatever you want. Simply adjust with water. I was under the impression that most is 70% because that is the minimum amount needed to kill 99% of bacteria, or so I have read. I have also read that higher concentrations can cause the skin to dry out which is why I added the Aloe Vera and Vitamin E to suit. I wanted a slightly higher concentration as I'm not taking any chances! I have been using mine today on site and I think 10 drops of Tea Tree is a little much as my hands tend to stink of it afterwards. I might try around 7 drops next batch. Also got a couple of lads on site to try it and they think its pretty good, at least for how their hands feel after using it.

I might have a go at making a surface cleaner with 80% IPA, 20% water and a little detergent. Looking briefly it seems there should be no effect mixing detergent with alcohol.

I've made up a sanitiser with some OxyAction powder Sodium Percarbonate. I have no real idea what strength to use, so i've chucked 2 1/2 scoops into 800ml of water and put it in one of the spray bottles. It'll take a while to dissolve it all as its cold.

Tomorrow I'll try it on hands, if it's strong enough to give me a tingle after several applications, that should do - lol