Is an emulsion just a lot of bubbles or does it sometimes look like there is no naphtha?

[crakkbakk]

I decided to take my anger out from a drytek NAcarb/acetone failure on an STB NaOH/naphtha by stirring it madly and violently shaking the jar.

In the past, a few shakes didn't cause any harm. Some bubbles that disappeared.

After my 10 minutes of stirring, 5 minutes of shaking and 2 hours of sitting... I opened the bottle and barely saw maybe 1/5 of a CM of naphtha... I said WTF am I loosing my mind did I just add less naphtha than I thought (I added about 200-250mL to the bowl with around 600mL of NaOH/water/rootbark and then stirred/funneled into a jar/shook)...or did I cause something that I have never encountered before?

I remember reading that hoilding it under hot water would help. Did that and nothing.

I remember reading that adding table salt helped, so I dumped about 20 shakes worth in (Was this a good/bad idea?) Which after tapping the side of the jar with a spoom near the layer increased the size of the naphtha.

I also remembered reading that adding a base could help break up the emulsion layer, so I added a heaping table spoon of sodium carbonate to it, tapped the side but didn't really notice a difference.


I have about 6 hours before I wanted to evaporate it. Is 6 hours enough time for this to break up? After I added salt I saw a bigger naptha layers with the same bubbles I remember from previous extractions.

 

[SWIMfriend]

I've lately become interested in the "Lazy Man's" tek...and the first thing I noticed was more than one person complaining that their naphtha VANISHES. My theory: the naphtha molecules are binding very nicely to molecular elements of the bark that stay ATTACHED to the bark (which, of course, can theoretically happen even with powdered bark). THAT could be where the naphtha is disappearing to.

I can think of two things to do:

1)Warm it (you say it didn't work so well).
2) Just add more naphtha and continue on. Eventually (as the heavy lye content breaks and loosens up the bark structure--even in powdered bark) that naphtha should free itself. Of course, when it does it can bring along a bunch of nasty fats, etc, that you had AVOIDED up until then.

My conclusion: It's probably a GOOD THING that the naphtha gets lost: It's bound to something that you DON'T WANT ANYHOW.

Just add more naphtha and continue on, is my best advice (from someone who never did a SINGLE EXTRACTION IN HIS LIFE--but who has done a lot of lab work and has had to think his way through things like this )

 

[crakkbakk]

Cool.

Something interesting I noticed:

On the other extraction I mentioned in the first sentence of my OP, the NA-carb drytek acetone pull, I had added more na-carb to it, placed in a bowl with naphtha, stirred and funneled back into a jar and shaken, in the same manner as I did to my STB...

When I looked at that one, there was all the naphtha (none of it disappeared) but with a gigantic emulsion/bubble all the way over all of the naphtha!

In prior STB extractions I have seen an emulsion layer about 1/5 the size of the naphtha. Never 100% of the naphtha.

There is two reasons to explain this.

1) I used sodium carbonate

2) I attempted to extract it with acetone it which could have possibly washed out some contaniments.


On a side note: I am using "plain naphtha," as opposed to "VM&P Naphtha," does this even matter or is it pretty important?

 

[SWIMfriend]

There are lots of naphtha versions. As far as I know they're all just a combination of pretroleum distillates of varying molecular weights. The boiling points vary between the varieties, but not very much (I don't think). I've never heard or seen anything to suggest it matters exactly what's in the naphtha.

 

[crakkbakk]

You were spot on, evaporation of a normal STB yielded more dmt then ever on a first pull. For the lul?

 

[Xstacy]

SWIM told me this had happened when he did not use enough water. SWIY needs to add more water, or if jar is too small, pour half into another one, add water to both, shake and sit. SWIY should see the layers in 5 mins, if it doesnt, add lye(1-2 tea spoons).

 

[crakkbakk]

Lye works motherfucking wonders, as does salt. I purposely shake the fuck out of all my extractions now just to do this. Lye tears it apart pretty quickly and salt finishes it.