Lye is another word for a strong alkali, and sodium hydroxide happens to be the most common. If you have lye in a water solution, there is no way you can get the NaOH out of it. But solid lye or solid drain cleaner provides the solid form of the product.
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To recover sodium hydroxide from lye, you can first evaporate the water to concentrate the solution. Then, you can use techniques like electrolysis or precipitation with a suitable agent to separate the sodium hydroxide from the other components in the solution. Finally, you can dry and purify the sodium hydroxide to obtain a solid form.
Lye (sodium hydroxide) is a compound that consists of one sodium atom, one hydrogen atom, and one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is NaOH.
Sodium hydroxide is the scientific name for caustic soda.
Lye is one of those "common names" that, particularly when combined with adjectives, might mean a couple of different compounds. The canonical lye is sodium hydroxide. However, potassium hydroxide has very similar chemical properties, and I've seen terms like "wood lye" that indicate it's actually the potassium compound instead. "Caustic lye" is a new one on me; both compounds have common names that include the word caustic (caustic soda for sodium hydroxide, caustic potash for potassium hydroxide), so it might be either one. If it's in a recipe for soap or something, it doesn't really matter all that much; as stated earlier, they have very similar properties and either will work.
The scientific symbol for sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda is: NaOH.
No, sodium chloride (table salt) cannot be used to make soap instead of lye. Lye (sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide) is the essential ingredient needed to saponify fats and oils to make soap. Sodium chloride does not have the same chemical properties to facilitate the soap-making process.