Hi everyone,

Can anyone think of why this would be a bad idea for basifying in an extraction? It seems like a very easy way to make lye water, and it would even be "food grade." Also, storage and handling is much safer with the reagents than with the product. I have about 1 years worth of college chemistry eduction, but that education is already many years old... a search on google says it should work. It seems to have worked fine in a few cacti forays the pet snake has embarked on, but its hard to know because the ingredients are already quite basic. Thanks for any input ...

ouro out.

I also want to know the answer! I remember discussing this before but dont remember the conclusion. Lets see if the chem experts can help us out

Your formula is right, also a percent of Hydrogen Carbonate (bicarbonate) should be produced. It's food grade as long as the initial chemicals are so.
You can also us the Sodium Cabonate for basifying. Oh yeah, the reaction of Lime with water is very energetic, keep that in mind.

update:

this seems like a good way to break limo out of caoh2 cacti sludge. The pet snake finally got the terrible sludge in his jar I read about, but adding small amounts of sod. carb. and mixing turned the mix into grains of fine green sand and free flowing limo. Is anything lost in the cacti granules? possibly... at least its a better way to get the last bits of limo out when the sludge is depleted than squeezing in a filter (messy).