Timeline for Potassium carbonate vs. Potassium hydroxide in Wood Ash
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 26, 2019 at 17:55 | vote | accept | Azalea Ellis | ||
| Jun 25, 2019 at 14:47 | comment | added | Azalea Ellis | No worries, I understood your previous comment. It's fine that you haven't tried it, but your understanding of chemistry is probably better than my own. I will have to try it myself, when my accommodations allow. I am a science fiction author and am writing a new series where authenticity is important. The least I can do is take some time to research the material I'm writing about so it's not blatantly wrong. | |
| Jun 24, 2019 at 21:44 | comment | added | ACR | Sounds reasonable on paper. KOH cannot be crystallized as far as I know. I have never tried this experiment (sorry for the mistake in the previous comment). As I said my only interest in wood ashes was its use as a plant food but never for soap making. Are you making an organic soap for some reasons? | |
| Jun 24, 2019 at 20:57 | comment | added | Azalea Ellis | Thanks for the clarification. Looking at the solubility of calcium hydroxide (0.066 g/mL) vs. potassium hydroxide (162.9 g/100 mL) --This is for a solution at boiling 100Celcius -- I imagine it would be possible to simply boil off the water from the solution. Basically, using recrystalization as a purification technique. The Calcium hydroxide would be forced to precipitate, and then the solution containing the potassium hydroxide could be poured off. Does that sound reasonable? | |
| Jun 24, 2019 at 15:41 | comment | added | ACR | The scum would originate from remaining calcium hydroxide. Calcium hydroxide needs to be added in excess to convert K2CO3 to KOH. Calcium hydroxide has some solubility in water. I assume the scum during soap making can be removed. I have tried this experiment, but at one time I was also very curious about wood ashes for feeding to plants. | |
| Jun 24, 2019 at 15:38 | comment | added | Azalea Ellis | Great information, thank you. About the comment "Calcium should not be part of soaps," I believe you mean the act of adding CaCO3? If you use that method to get from potassium carbonate to hydroxide, after precipitating, I was under the impression you would have 2 KOH + CaCO3, and all the CaCO3 would settle out of the solution. Is this incorrect? Where does the insoluble soap scum come from? | |
| Jun 22, 2019 at 15:38 | history | edited | Gaurang Tandon | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Improved Formatting
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| Jun 22, 2019 at 13:36 | history | edited | ACR | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 1517 characters in body
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| Jun 21, 2019 at 23:31 | history | answered | ACR | CC BY-SA 4.0 |