So, as most of you know, I recently made some DAMN fine soap. Came out perfectly. Waaay beyond my expectations. But, making soap was not my end goal (although it was fun and I love the soap, so I will be doing more of it, and I promise I will share my awesome creations with you!!!!).
No. That was only the first step in the journey. The next step.... extracting free fatty acids from that soap!
So, pics below. Here is what I did. This was basically on the orders of the UCLA Lab Rat. I scooped some of the soap out into a beaker. I poured into that beaker a shit-ton a hydrochloric acid. I let it sit for several days. They I used some giant syringe thing to separate to top layer you see below into a new beaker, leaving the lower layer in its own beaker.
I used PH strips on both of them. As you can see, the bottom layer had a VERY low PH, so is probably almost pure Hydrochloric acid. Also as you can see, the top layer had a PH of almost 7. So, my main question is what do I need to do now? UCLA Lab Rat, you mentioned using ether or something to try and extract the free fatty acids, but let me ask you (or others with real chemistry knowledge) this first - is not the top layer supposed to be the free fatty acids, maybe not entirely but in large part at least? I mean, isn't the reaction something like: Sodium salt + HCl ---> NaCl + fatty acid? Let me know what I should do now! Thank you!!!
P.S., so many of you on the other thread were convinced I would kill myself... LOL, quit being girly-men. This was easy as pie, both making the soap and this next step. Be men, not mice, for Christ's sake LOL....
Pics:
Right after dumping in the soap and the HCl.
After a few days of letting it sit, you can see what I think is the fatty acid (plus more?) on top, the HCl layer under it, then some solids that settled out at the bottom:
Then, after I used my giant syringe thing to suck out the top layer and put in a separate beaker:
Bottom layer PH strip test:
Top layer PH strip test:
Victory or death!!!!
No. That was only the first step in the journey. The next step.... extracting free fatty acids from that soap!
So, pics below. Here is what I did. This was basically on the orders of the UCLA Lab Rat. I scooped some of the soap out into a beaker. I poured into that beaker a shit-ton a hydrochloric acid. I let it sit for several days. They I used some giant syringe thing to separate to top layer you see below into a new beaker, leaving the lower layer in its own beaker.
I used PH strips on both of them. As you can see, the bottom layer had a VERY low PH, so is probably almost pure Hydrochloric acid. Also as you can see, the top layer had a PH of almost 7. So, my main question is what do I need to do now? UCLA Lab Rat, you mentioned using ether or something to try and extract the free fatty acids, but let me ask you (or others with real chemistry knowledge) this first - is not the top layer supposed to be the free fatty acids, maybe not entirely but in large part at least? I mean, isn't the reaction something like: Sodium salt + HCl ---> NaCl + fatty acid? Let me know what I should do now! Thank you!!!
P.S., so many of you on the other thread were convinced I would kill myself... LOL, quit being girly-men. This was easy as pie, both making the soap and this next step. Be men, not mice, for Christ's sake LOL....
Pics:
Right after dumping in the soap and the HCl.
After a few days of letting it sit, you can see what I think is the fatty acid (plus more?) on top, the HCl layer under it, then some solids that settled out at the bottom:
Then, after I used my giant syringe thing to suck out the top layer and put in a separate beaker:
Bottom layer PH strip test:
Top layer PH strip test:
Victory or death!!!!
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