Can I purify KOH at home?

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Zagoro

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Hey everyone. I had my KOH for a couple of months and I am not sure what is the purity of it. I know the purity decreases because it absorbs water from the atmosphere. I was thinking could I cook it in the oven to reach purity close to 100%? Or it wouldn't work?
 
...could I cook it in the oven to reach purity close to 100%?...

You really, really do NOT want to do this. Heating KOH in the oven won't work to remove the potassium carbonate, it won't work to remove all of the water, and it could easily be a huge safety hazard.

Even if heating the KOH actually did work, you'd still not know the purity of the KOH after it's been baked. It won't ever be 100% -- even super pure reagent grade KOH used by PhD rocket scientists is never 100% pure. So you'd still need to test the purity to know what you've got.

Instead, test the purity of the KOH as it is. Adjust the amount of KOH you use for soap making based on this purity. See NaOH or KOH purity check | Soapy Stuff
 
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