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Lactic Acid: Wackenroder's Calcium Lactate Split with Oxalic Acid (US Dispensatory 1907)
Wackenroder's lactic acid: skimmed milk, milk sugar, chalk and water kept warm for a month. As the acid forms, the chalk takes it up as calcium lactate. That salt is crystallised and then split with exactly enough oxalic acid to free the lactic acid; the lime falls as calcium oxalate.
Source: The Dispensatory of the United States of America (1907), Acidum Lacticum. Pharmacopoeial lactic acid, used as food-grade, as ruled. Unknown: how the free acid is separated afterwards; the Dispensatory does not say, so it is linked to an unknown head. The sulphuric-acid version is a separate blueprint. Picture drawn by Youblob.
Intermediate
5 weeks
Instructions
1
1
Mix 10 : 2.5 : 2 : 20
Mix 10 : 2.5 : 2 : 20
Mix 10 parts skimmed milk, 2.5 parts milk sugar, 2 parts chalk and 20 parts water. Ours: grams.
Materials for this step:
Milk - Skimmed10 parts
Milk Sugar2.5 parts
Calcium Carbonate - Whiting2 parts
Water20 partsTools needed:
Balance Scale
Glass Vessel2
2
Digest at about 24 °C for a month
Digest at about 24 °C for a month
Keep it at about 23.8 °C (75 °F) for a month, or until the chalk has dissolved.
Tools needed:
Glass Vessel
Thermometer - Lab3
3
Press, clarify and crystallise the calcium lactate
Press, clarify and crystallise the calcium lactate
Press it out, clarify it, and evaporate it so the calcium lactate crystallises. Recrystallise it.
Tools needed:
Cheesecloth
Filter Paper
Evaporating Dish
Hot Plate4
4
Split the salt with oxalic acid
Split the salt with oxalic acid
Decompose the calcium lactate with oxalic acid in exactly the saturating proportion. Oxalic acid is poisonous if swallowed: gloves. Unknown: how the lactic acid is then separated.
Materials for this step:
Oxalic Acid Dihydrate1 as requiredTools needed:
Glass Vessel
Unknown Work-Up
Chemical Splash Goggles
Nitrile GlovesMaterials
5- 10 partsPlaceholder
- 2.5 partsPlaceholder
- 2 partsPlaceholder
- 20 partsPlaceholder
- 1 as requiredPlaceholder
Tools Required
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