Hello Gentleman and woman! What we have here is about 12kg of bridge freeze syrup. The hardware store did not have lye but a product that said it contain sodium hydroxide. They look like lye flakes but are more grey in color. When just a few spoonfuls of this were added the solution turned hot really quick and turned the ph to 14 right away (not having to to add half a can like with regular lye). The next day two layers formed the top has now a ph of 11~ and the bottom layer is some kinda whiteisch sparkly. :? Something went obviously wrong here. Two layers were never encountered before. Where to go from here?
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weird lye issue
- Thread starter oetzi13
- Start date
I only use food grade safe lye. What you have there is not food safe at all. It likely has other chemicals in it besides the lye. Careful with that batch. You may consider starting over with a food grade safe lye and not take the risk of poisoning yourself.
I just checked the MSDS and it looks to be only Sodium Hydroxide. However, the reaction to it seems abnormal. I'm with DmnStr8 on this one - maybe it's best to start over completely.
Are you adding anything else besides water and lye?
Edit: The MSDS says the colour of the flakes should be white, so the fact that they were grey is a bit strange.
Are you adding anything else besides water and lye?
Edit: The MSDS says the colour of the flakes should be white, so the fact that they were grey is a bit strange.
Never add solid lye directly to your plant sludge. The dissolving lye is too caustic and may damage your goodies. Always predissolve the lye and then add that solution to your plant material.
The sparkly bits could simply be sodium carbonate crystals or sodium chloride crystals. Both are not very soluble in a concentrated lye solution. The former could have formed by absorption of atmospheric CO2 into the solution or even in the drain opener bottle. The latter could have formed if you used a lot of strong hydrochloric acid to cook your plants in before basification.
The bottom layer may be harmless and could possibly be ignored. You could also simply decant and go on with the extraction.
Anyway, I am just guessing. But there is no need to panic just yet.
The sparkly bits could simply be sodium carbonate crystals or sodium chloride crystals. Both are not very soluble in a concentrated lye solution. The former could have formed by absorption of atmospheric CO2 into the solution or even in the drain opener bottle. The latter could have formed if you used a lot of strong hydrochloric acid to cook your plants in before basification.
The bottom layer may be harmless and could possibly be ignored. You could also simply decant and go on with the extraction.
Anyway, I am just guessing. But there is no need to panic just yet.
yeah this sure is hella weird. Nothing else was added. There was no sludge either.
Another patch was done using Potassium hydroxide, everything looks normal there.
Is it possible to mix sodium and potassium hydroxide?
Thank you!
Another patch was done using Potassium hydroxide, everything looks normal there.
Is it possible to mix sodium and potassium hydroxide?
Thank you!
Could be that you have something different. Drain cleaner lye is often mixed with aluminum flakes or dust. The reaction of lye and aluminium produce lots of H2 so it literally blows out the clogs.
If they look greyish I would guess you had exactly that.
And I guess the stuff on the bottom is Sodium aluminate and Aluminium Hydroxide.
Sodium aluminate : white powder (sometimes light-yellowish)
hygroscopic/ when dissovled in water a colloidal black solution is formed
Aluminium hydroxide: White powder. Unsoluable in water and organic solvents. Forms white whispy clouds in solution.
[YOUTUBE]
If they look greyish I would guess you had exactly that.
And I guess the stuff on the bottom is Sodium aluminate and Aluminium Hydroxide.
Sodium aluminate : white powder (sometimes light-yellowish)
hygroscopic/ when dissovled in water a colloidal black solution is formed
Aluminium hydroxide: White powder. Unsoluable in water and organic solvents. Forms white whispy clouds in solution.
[YOUTUBE]
DoingKermit checked the MSDS and there is no aluminium in this product. Also, OP describes the bottom suspension as "sparkly", which does not sound like aluminium hydroxide at all.
Ulim said:
The address shown on the bottle in the OP is the same as the one on the safety sheet. Should be the right one.
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