The last time SWIM A/B extracted, he followed it with a couple quick washes of the solvent (hexane) with pH=8 water, the idea being to remove any leftover lye. Afterward was just room temp evap (no freezing).

The problem was that there would always be tiny bits of water left over with the solvent. So SWIM's idea is to pour the solvent through a tiny amount of Sodium Sulfate in order to remove any clingy water. He doesn't think any spice could get stuck in the Sodium Sulfate, especially after a few extra solvent rinses through it. Has anyone ever tried anything like this or have any idea if it would work? Or is there something he's missing. The reason for all this is because the first time it seemed like it took forever to fully dry, perhaps thanks to said water.

Peace

sodium sulfate should work fine

swim uses epsom salts, magnesium sulfate heptahydrate.
this also works fine, as is. no need to dehydrate it
(drying at 400 for a couple hours would do this)

Hey thanks for the reply. One more idea along the same lines occurred to me. SWIM told me that sometimes (toward the end of the A/B procedure) this pH=8 water wash of the spice-containing solvent isn't able to totally remove a little light emulsion (visible small bubbles, brownish in color) which he can't completely get rid of without draining off solvent as well. Any idea if a pour through a little sodium sulfate might grab these pesky water-based foam as well?

Peace