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Lactic Acid: Fermented Whey, Lime, Oxalic Acid and Alcohol (Louradour, US Dispensatory 1907)
Whey left warm turns sour with lactic acid. Louradour's way to get the acid out: boil the whey down, take the acid up as calcium lactate with lime, then free it again with oxalic acid, which carries the lime away as an insoluble salt. A last wash in alcohol leaves the milk sugar and salts behind.
Source: The Dispensatory of the United States of America (1907), Acidum Lacticum. This is pharmacopoeial lactic acid; we use it as food-grade, as ruled. The Dispensatory gives the temperature and the order of work but no amounts or times; those are stated as not given. Vessels, filter and still are ours. Picture drawn by Youblob.
Intermediate
1 week
Instructions
1
1
Sour the whey at 21-27 °C
Sour the whey at 21-27 °C
Keep whey between 21.1 °C (70 °F) and 26.6 °C (80 °F) until it is charged with lactic acid. Not given: how long.
Materials for this step:
Whey1 as requiredTools needed:
Glass Vessel
Thermometer - Lab2
2
Boil down to a third, then add lime
Boil down to a third, then add lime
Evaporate it to one third of its bulk, decant and filter. Saturate it with milk of lime (slaked lime stirred in water). The acid becomes calcium lactate and stays dissolved; a precipitate, mostly calcium phosphate, falls. Filter again. Not given: how much lime.
Materials for this step:
Calcium Hydroxide (Slaked Lime)1 as required
Water1 as requiredTools needed:
Evaporating Dish
Hot Plate
Filter Paper3
3
Free the acid with oxalic acid
Free the acid with oxalic acid
Add oxalic acid: the lime falls as calcium oxalate and the lactic acid is set free. Filter a third time. The solution still holds milk sugar and some salts. Oxalic acid is poisonous if swallowed: gloves. Not given: how much.
Materials for this step:
Oxalic Acid Dihydrate1 as requiredTools needed:
Glass VesselFilter Paper
Nitrile Gloves4
4
Purify with alcohol and distil it off
Purify with alcohol and distil it off
Concentrate to a syrup and treat it with alcohol, which dissolves the acid and throws down the milk sugar and salts. Filter, then distil off the alcohol: pure lactic acid remains.
Tools needed:
Ethanol - Lab Grade, 95%Evaporating DishFilter Paper
Round-Bottom Flask
Condenser CoilHot PlateMaterials
4- 1 as requiredPlaceholder
- 1 as requiredPlaceholder
- 1 as requiredPlaceholder
- 1 as requiredPlaceholder
Tools Required
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