What is the difference between using Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) and Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) ?
KOH stays liquid, while NaOH gels. Practically, KOH is easier to use due to the staying-liquid property – making glycerine elimination from the settling tank easy. Also, you don’t have the pump clogging up due to the gelling property of NaOH. KOH is a natural fertilizer and makes liquid soap, should you wish to apply the glycerine by-product to this end. There is a large price difference between KOH and NaOH – KOH being more expensive. Remember to do the titration test with the same caustic product you will be using in the batch reactions. See the Titration Recipe on our ‘Documents’ page.
