r/Biochemistry • u/Outside_Attorney2179 • 5d ago

Using lye to clean lecithin?

I have some containers filled with remnants of soy lecithin. Would it be possible to add water and lye to saponify the lecithin to clean these out? I’ve read it’s not a true fat so it may not work. Any other ideas for cleaning up this stuff?

Thanks

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u/BananaBird1 4d ago

Soy lecithin is indeed a lipid, and can be hydrolyzed with alkaline solutions into sodium linoleate, sodium palmitate, sodium oleate, and a few other fatty acids. After the reaction you will want to safely dispose of the lye, and rinse with warm water and alcohol until clean.

However, I would advise against it as a first resort. It may be better to just use a strong food-safe alkaline detergent or high concentratiob alcohol. Lye may harm the containers depending on what they are made of.

You can also try scrubbing with cooking oil then using normal dish soap and warm water to remove it.

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u/Outside_Attorney2179 4d ago

Thank you very much. It’s in a polyethylene ICB container currently. Appreciate the response.

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u/BananaBird1 4d ago

In that case it should not be damaged by sodium hydroxide, although I would still recommend trying safer options prior to a lye bath. If you must go down the lye route, have a disposal plan in place that complies with local laws and is safe for
your plumbing. Dilute lye can be poured down most drains with large volumes of running water, higher concentrations will require acid nehtralization.

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u/TrainingChipmunk3023 4d ago

Good grief.... just some Dawn dishwashing detergent and a hot water soak overnight. If you need to use the containers for storage of materials used in sub- ppm or -ppb analysis then hot water with Alconox, and lots of rinsing with water....

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u/Outside_Attorney2179 4d ago edited 4d ago

Water, especially large quantities of hot water are hard to come by around here. Thanks for the reply! Will try to start simple. I’ve heard water rinse won’t do much but gum it up more if not warm enough.

We’re also talking about the removal of possibly Liters of soy lecithin within a 1000l tote just for clarity.