Im starting to feel defeated when it comes to naphtha separation after failing 3 times now, and countless hours/days of reading different teks and faqs can anyone tell me where I might be going wrong? Ive been using Toshido’s hot plate tek, which is just a combo of 3 different teks, A+S/B. Mostly similar to Cyb’s salt tek. I keep everything on 62C/143f heat & use a mag stir bar pretty much the whole time.
1. I add 50g MHRB into 300ml of acidified (3.5pH) water. & stir on heat for 45min-2hrs
2. Then add in a dissolved mix of 150mL distilled water/45g of non-iodized sea salt. Now im at 500mL total. & stir on heat for 15 mins.
3. I use a funnel and cheesecloth to separate the solid bark from liquid into a flask (still contains fine sediment), left with 400mL since about 50mL evaporated, so I top it up to 450mL with more distilled water.
4. I then dissolve 50g NaOH (99.9% Lye) into 450mL of cold distilled water (13.5pH), stop stir bar in flask & pour into the flask. I can always see what i think is a crash when pouring the base into acid, then i stir it up at a slightly lower heat 52C/125f with the mag stir bar for an hour, now im at about 850mL since 50mL evaporated again, so I top it up with 50mL distilled to get 900mL total of mixed dark brown/black solution.
5. Then stop the stirring and pour in 50mL warm kleanstrip vm&p naphtha (newer brand label since the old is discontinued) and still on 52C/125f heat, i start the stir bar at 300RPM, then 400, 500 etc until i hit 1000RPM. Takes about a minute and I stop the stir.
6. Then i wait for the naphtha to separate, but it never separates… its always a whole flask of homogenous brown/black. No different layers at all. No bubbles. I’ve then tried adding a little more water but there wasnt much room in the flask to add more than 100-150mL, nope. Tried adding more lye, nope. Tried transferring it into another beaker and back into the flask a few times, nope. Tried tapping, tried shaking it a little, nope. Tried letting it sit for hours, even days, nope.
Anyone have a clue what I’m doing wrong? Again, this is my 3rd time spending hours just to fail, tweak things a tiny bit, and run into the same problem
1. I add 50g MHRB into 300ml of acidified (3.5pH) water. & stir on heat for 45min-2hrs
2. Then add in a dissolved mix of 150mL distilled water/45g of non-iodized sea salt. Now im at 500mL total. & stir on heat for 15 mins.
3. I use a funnel and cheesecloth to separate the solid bark from liquid into a flask (still contains fine sediment), left with 400mL since about 50mL evaporated, so I top it up to 450mL with more distilled water.
4. I then dissolve 50g NaOH (99.9% Lye) into 450mL of cold distilled water (13.5pH), stop stir bar in flask & pour into the flask. I can always see what i think is a crash when pouring the base into acid, then i stir it up at a slightly lower heat 52C/125f with the mag stir bar for an hour, now im at about 850mL since 50mL evaporated again, so I top it up with 50mL distilled to get 900mL total of mixed dark brown/black solution.
5. Then stop the stirring and pour in 50mL warm kleanstrip vm&p naphtha (newer brand label since the old is discontinued) and still on 52C/125f heat, i start the stir bar at 300RPM, then 400, 500 etc until i hit 1000RPM. Takes about a minute and I stop the stir.
6. Then i wait for the naphtha to separate, but it never separates… its always a whole flask of homogenous brown/black. No different layers at all. No bubbles. I’ve then tried adding a little more water but there wasnt much room in the flask to add more than 100-150mL, nope. Tried adding more lye, nope. Tried transferring it into another beaker and back into the flask a few times, nope. Tried tapping, tried shaking it a little, nope. Tried letting it sit for hours, even days, nope.
Anyone have a clue what I’m doing wrong? Again, this is my 3rd time spending hours just to fail, tweak things a tiny bit, and run into the same problem
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