NO HEAT Canola oil, Na2CO3 and vinegar extraction

[modern]

I'll do multiple pulls with less oil each time. It didn't just sit there for 2 days but was mixed every 4-6 hours. But what you said makes sense so I'll modify that to perhaps have a less cloudy oil phase.

For now I'll give up on what actually precipitated since I cant test it and I'll do more test next time.

The photo is the collection of the isopropanol washes 4-5x. The first photo in OP looks more interesting but I'll see if this has any interesting properties.

 

[modern]

with the acidification, it's as much about converting all the alkaloid to salt form with the minimum necessary amount of acid. A few separate washes with a small amount of acid, while monitoring the pH, will achieve this more precisely than one wash with an excess. The reason for wanting to do it precisely is in order to avoid having to evaporate of excess acid, which is time-consuming, smelly and wasteful. But you can ensure that your acidic water starts 2 pH units under the pKa, at least.

Measuring the pH change in each pull shows you when to stop (the pH doesn't go above 7 at that point).

I didn't have any ph paper so I just used vinegar at 5% to be certain. Next time I'll also try controlling the ph at which I attempt salting to prevent pulling extra impurities. I'll also test to see if I get the same precipitate even with a higher but still acidic wax.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll post here in the future when I get around to attempting this again.

 

[downwardsfromzero]

Thanks for sharing your efforts, it's a useful contribution - warts and all!

Looking forward to the next iteration.