# Making Sodium Hydroxide



## Irons (Sep 17, 2007)

Ever since Big Brother had retailers remove Red Devil Lye from the store shelves, getting Sodium Hydroxide has been a real pain. I don't use enough to make it worthwhile to buy it in bulk because the pellets absorb moisture, cake up and have a great affinity for Carbon Dioxide.
If I want Sodium Carbonate, I can buy it at the grocery store a heck of a lot cheaper.
Here's a handy recipe for making Sodium Hydroxide solution that will be better than what you can make from NaOH pellets:

Dissolve a cup of Sodium Carbonate in a half gallon of water.

Mix a cup of Calcium hydroxide in a pint of water to make a slurry.

Pour the slurry into the Sodium Carbonate solution while stirring.

Allow the resulting Calcium Carbonate to precipitate out.

Voila.

I use masons lime. It's a mixture of calcium and Magnesium hydroxide but it works well for me.

Dont use agricultural lime. It is Calcium and Magnesium Carbonate.


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