First-time extractor from Australia looking for advice

[reun]

Greetings, this is my first post, and I hope it will be followed by many more.

I'm looking for advice, and I hope that you may be able to help. Mostly finding the right solvent, but I have a few other questions.

I'm planning to use the tek from this video (I'm not sure if this tek has a recognisable name). In short, the presenter mixes sodium hydroxide with water, adds MHRBs, then adds naphtha into the mix to separate out the DMT, before collecting the layer of DMT-infused naphtha. I have the MHRB, but here is where I'm struggling:

• The biggest problem -- VM&P Naphtha: in Australia, they call this "shellite", so I got some Diggers Shellite from a hardware store, but unfortunately, it failed the evaporation test. From what I understand other options include Zippo lighter fluid, n-heptane, xylene, limonene, toluene and a few rarer chemicals --apparently all of these have their own gotchas and I'm not sure if they are compatible with my desired technique. Some of these are available in hardware stores, others like n-heptane can only be obtained from a specialist lab, and I'd be worried about ordering it from there because of how suspicious it might look. If Zippo would work, it would be great, because I believe that it can be a drop-in replacement for naphtha for the tek in the video. My next move is to get Zippo and run an evap test on that.
• Sodium Hydroxide purity: I've found Diggers Caustic Soda which, according to the packaging is 98% sodium hydroxide and according to the product information sheet is ">99% sodium hydroxide". I'm not sure if this is something I need to worry about. From what I understand, Sodium Hydroxide may often be mixed with sodium carbonate, moisture and sodium chloride. Still, I wanted to double check that it is safe to use
• Vape cartridges: remarkably, it appears to be difficult to find a vape cartridge in Australia. The only suitable options I've found is BrandMyDispo which ships internationally, but if anyone has any better suggestions, then I'd love to hear from you. I was planning to pair it up with a Yocan KODO Pro 510 Thread Battery, which can be sourced easily, it seems.

So, in summary, first and foremost, I would really appreciate some advice on the solvent situation -- what is the right kind, where to get it, whether or not it will work with the tek from the video and whether there are any special disposal considerations*. Beyond that, I'd like a sense check on the caustic soda thing and vape cartridge recommendations.

Lastly, regarding disposal: I understand that if I have a mixture of distilled water with caustic soda and remnants of MHRB in a flask, I shouldn't just flush it down the drain, I understand that I need to dilute this mixture with vinegar to reach 1:1 ratio, and I need to do that slowly -- this should bring pH to neutral level and then I will be able to dispose of it. This isn't covered in the tek, so I had to do some digging on my own, and I'm not sure if I got that right, so if you have any recommendations on that, I'd love to hear about that too!

Thank you so much for reading and thank you in advance for your advice!

 

[Transform]

Lastly, regarding disposal: I understand that if I have a mixture of distilled water with caustic soda and remnants of MHRB in a flask, I shouldn't just flush it down the drain

Well, the sodium hydroxide is sold as a drain cleaner - but if you don't have fatty accumulations in your plugholes neutralisation could be considered polite.

Another option - if you have somewhere it can be left safely - is to spread the sludge out on a large tray and simply let the stuff dry out. Carbon dioxide from the air will neutralise excess alkalinity, plus naphtha residues will safely evaporate into "nature's dustbin", as your fellow countryman and most famous expletive-wielding garage chemist would put it.

Sodium hydroxide itself is never going to arrive at anything above 98% on delivery exactly on account of this propens«ty to absorb CO₂ and moisture from the air, unless you're willing to spend silly money on hermetically-sealed vials from a lab specialist. That, obviously, would be wholly superfluous for your use-case. Your main concern should be that it's free from, say, random metals contamination, and that it's reasonably fresh.

Owing to my location on the opposite side of the planet, I'm not well-versed in the current availability of hydrocarbon solvents in Australia. Zippo seems like it's worth a shot if it passes the evap test. Beyond that, you'd do well to get elbows deep in researching the various applications of unadulterated hydrocarbon solvents, along with all the diverse synonyms for naphtha.

One further option is switching up your initial approach entirely and checking out the only slightly experimental "TnT" vodka limetek, although the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle there would be working out how to turn it into acceptable cart juice - something I believe to be relatively easily achievable - if you were up for the challenge.

Entirely understandable if you'd prefer to stick with a more established method, of course!


Aand… welcome to the Nexus!