Help Request - First extraction - Something's Wrong with the NaOH

[Caminante]

Dear community: I encountered an unexpected problem during my first extraction, when I tried to begin the basic phase (I follow Toshido's technique): In a thick glass jar with 500 ml of cold distilled water, which is in turn inside a pot with ice water, I very carefully added 50 grams of NaOH, 10 grams at a time.

What happened was a total absence of an exothermic reaction, and the water took on a strong yellowish color. I measured the pH with measuring strips, and it came out at 14. So, the pH is fine; but I don't know if that yellowish color is normal.
And the total absence of an exothermic reaction is definitely not normal (although the AI tells me that the exothermic reaction could have gone unnoticed due to the cold water and the fact that I added 10 grams at a time; but honestly the only visible reaction was the slow dissolution of the NaOH; no bubbles, or anything). As a precaution, I stopped at that step and didn't mix it with the acid solution. What could be happening?. The AI tells me it's a strong indication of impurities or additives in the NaOH (which says 99% pure NaOH on its packaging).

Will it be safe to continue the Tek with this basic solution?. If there are impurities, will they remain in the solution or can they be transferred to the NPS?. Thank you in advance for your help, which will be greatly appreciated!.

 

[Caminante]

Well, I've finally decided to pause the extraction (I need to figure out the best way to store the acid solution) and buy some more NaOH. What I've been able to determine is that it may have absorbed moisture; or become contaminated with the plastics in the container, or come with iron and/or copper contamination; or formed Na₂CO₃ by reacting with CO₂ in the air. Although the solution has a pH of 14, since I can't determine if the contaminants will pass into the NPS, nor can I determine if they can be removed with recrystallization, I've decided to discard it (I'll make soap to dispose of it in an environmentally friendly way). I hope sharing this problem with you will be helpful to anyone who faces a similar situation. And if anyone can shed more light on it, all the better.

 

[DopieOpie]

Hmm. I'm a relative newbie myself, but have never run into this situation in my handful of extractions. I add my 50g of lye into 200ml of cold distilled water in batches of 10-15g over the course of 15 min or so. I can always feel the exothermic reaction in terms of water temp, and after it's fully dissolved, the water is always clear, or close to it.

My gut tells me that it's more likely that you were working with lye that had an additive, rather than the mfg choosing the wrong type of plastic to store the product in. Are you 100% positive that it was pure lye?

Good move on stopping the extraction. Have you since found the issue?