Reddish Naphtha after A/B extraction

[mercurio]

Hi,

I "condensed" 6.5 Kg of bark into a very dense liquid (about 2 liters) after boiling it three times and then simmering the lot for evaporation.

Q1: am I pushing it too much? Shall I evaporate it to a little more? That is, did I make it too dense?

I then added lye (Caustic Soda) to the mix till it reached PH 14. Then added naphtha, shook it well (with rest periods to maximise yield I hear) and then, when they separated (letting it rest for a good 1/2 hour), I took the naphtha out. I didn't use much in the first pull -- I used to use a lot, and got told off in these forums!)

Well, man, it was red. Like red-red. I noticed that the bark I used had a really strong red colour, and it was really fresh.

Q2: Gosh... why would it come out so red? Is it even "normal"? Was it because the liquid was too dense to start with?

I am in the middle of my extraction right now, and would love to figure out what to do. Shall I continue? Or did I do something terribly wrong and should just give up?

Q3: If I do continue (I am now in the middle of the second pull), shall I just wash the crystals afterwards?

That's it!

Thanks a billion as ever...

Mercurio

 

[mercurio]

Hi,

I have crystals poring out of my eyes.
I thought the crystals had desolved. When I tried to separate the layers, a *huge* amount of crystals clogged up my funnel -- I had to take them out with a tea spoon.

I am committing murder here. I had no idea the bark had this much. I would have never, ever separated so much bark had I known.

Anyway.

I am warming the solution up. The problem is that the minute I let it live, crystals form -- even though it's hot. Now I have acidic water and naphtha mixed together, and I am having real trouble separating them.

What do I do?

I really think I messed it up big time.

Mercurio

 

[endlessness]

ok heres what you can do.. manually separate these crystals (at least enough to stop blocking the funnel), put in a glass or something. Then separate the two layers.. Then add more hot vinegar to the naphtha and separate again, put the vinegar pulls together.

The crystals that you manually separated, you can redissolve them in hot vinegar (oh btw dilute the vinegar, no need to use it concentrated.. Could be for example 1 part vinegar and 2 or 3 parts hot water or smt). And then add all your vinegar together and re-base and re-extract.

Dont throw anything away, dont worry nothing is lost

 

[mercurio]

Hi,

Endlessness, is there any way you would be able to come to chat?
I am having a _real_ problem separating the layers. They just won't. There is always a huge amount of crystals that floats in the naphtha, which makes separation difficult at best...

I am spilling things here, there and everywhere... and it's getting really late here.

Help will me _immensely_ appreciated!

Mercurio