Hello shamans,
I got another problem. If I could get your help I would really appreciate it.
I have a emulsion problem I was shaking the bottle after warm bath and having too much fun but it back fired. The layers aren’t separating. I let it sit for the night hoping that it would naturally separate but it didn’t. There is a tiny separation but not fully.
Any tips I can get I would really be thankful.

what was your exact procedure?

I used mHRB:water:lye:naphtha (1g:10ml:1g:2g)
I let the basified rootbark sit for 2 days and added naphtha. I did a warm bath then shook it vigorously for 1 to 2 min then I did another warm bath 50 Celsius then I let it sit for the night and I checked in the morning there was no separation just a Lilttle tiny separation but on top of the solvent there is thin layer of root bark as well.
Would the waiting game help for the separation?

You seem to have no luck with your bark.

You can add (a lot of) NaCl, this sometimes helps
You can add water, sometimes helps too.
You can add more NaOH, but you already put there a lot, so I wouldn't do that. But it might help.

If you leave it resting for two days, turning it carefuly over few times every few hours (no shaking!), you should see some separation. This tels you whether it is worth waiting

For next extraction with the same bark, I wouls use 1:15 for bark:water ratio and add NaCl (1:1 bark:NaCl) before mixing with non-polar.

Pete666

Thank you I will try adding little more water since I did 1:10 ration instead of 1:15 bark:water. Do you think putting it in warm bath and stirring it lightly with a long spoon help the separate? And what do you mean no luck with my bark?

Heat helps.
Some barks are causing emulsions, some not. It's a coin flip.
Try NaCl next time, may help.

A tip if everything does not work:

Separate the top water from it so you will be left with Naphtha + Emulsion.

Now if the Emulsion is so much that you also cannot really see the Naphtha, then pout more Naphtha into the mix.

Then throw in as much MgSO4 as you need to fully absorb all the water. MgSO4 or NaSO4 is a drying agent, it catches all the water and if you throw enough into it, then it will form a solid brick at the bottom.

This brick will be brownish and your solution should be mostly clear Naphtha.

The reason to have enough Naphtha is that some of your goddies might stick in that brick too, and if the ratio of Naphtha : Water is high on the Naphtha side, you will not loose much in that Brick.

To be safe you could also disperse that Brick in new Naphtha and heat it up to *do a pull on your brick*.

But this is mostly a way to help yourself to get out of emulsions if nothing different helps, meaning that it would be an overkill to do it everytime. Better avoid it, but yes, some Barks seem to be causing it more often.

That is a really good tip, thanks for posting that

Pretty sure I read this on the Nexus somewhere... a vibrating dildo taped to the side of my vessel containing an emulsion. Turn it on full blast and you'll see the bits start to fall out of the emulsion.

I love how its assumed that we all most likely own vibrating dildos

Okay, so I own a vibrating dildo and I have found it does help, but it does not help enough that I would have bought one just for that application. In beakers, I find a magnetic stirrer set to low works better in most cases. Obviously that would be difficult in a separatory funnel and that is where the vibrator comes out.

I'd love to have a 30 cm PTFE coated vibrator so I could just stick it in the based mix. But I think that wouldn't find use outside of my lab

Thank you all for your help.
This is my first extraction and I’m glad to have such knowledgeable awesome people helping out. It’s been a great experience so far from the help from the community and doing the extraction. It truly is an art and the love that goes in the work.
I am on my last step I have the solvent still in with the basified root bark. Is there any cons leaving the naphtha for one week in the bottle with the root bark? Due to some events I have to wait.