A process of purifying a substance-compound from impurities.
Two scenarios - 1.) compound of interest more soluble than impurity 2.) less soluble.
2.) Compound of interest will crystallize before the impurity which remains in the supernatant (solvent) which is discarded-removed. When repeated a few times the ratio of product-impurity increases
This is achieved by evaporation of or cooling of solution to induce supersaturation and formation of a seed crystal. Once the SEED is formed it will accelerate the process manyfold.
Ex. Jesus says - you must be like salt. Go to a salt production site on the seashore. The first batch that is formed upon water evaporation is usually yellow with black and brown impurities. You dissolve it again in (sweet) water and filter to remove the junk (case 1 – impurity insoluble-less soluble) and place on the sun. Slow evaporation produces white grains of salt (cubic crystals – Saturn – Binah=center of our universe-Cube of space=vessel of spirit –Chesed, according to Kabala). There are alquimical processes that use up to 120 recrystallizations, but keep in mind that the more u purify the less yield is going to be less. You will need to sacrifice some of your material each time.
In case of Golden water I believe that the salt may be white. I would like some feedback here. The red, yelow coloration comes from pigments such as billiRUBIn. (uroCHROME, urobilirogen. While uric acid is yellow, urea, and ammonium chloride are white and more volaile) They all can bind metals. Regardless, the purity, besides color is inidicated by Crystallinity (well defined cubes, needles, rhomboids and a SHARP melting point).
Even before distllation u will get dirty white precipite on the bottom of the flask of red putrified golden water. Separate it by filtration and dry them. The remaining batch -solid-gum after distillation and drying will certainly be dirtier. Now work on the separately.
Take warm distilled water or dew and add trying to dissolve as much salt as u can.
Some texts advise boiling for 2h some gentle heat for days…
Filter or decant carefuly (to remove the insoluble junk) and place in the fridge (avoid metal contact) and as chemist say 'forget about them' meaning to leave them undisturbed for days or weeks. I bless them and pray – sounds crazy. If nothing forms you added too much solvent (water) so distill some off. In Nicks book he mentions formation of skin – this iswhat you are looking for = turbidity = saturation. The trick is to reach the point before saturation and start the crystallization. crystallization = very slow ordered precipitation.
The next day or so filter and collect the crystals and repeat the process with more hot water. Always save the filtrate cuz besides impuries a quantity of salt is still there. U can leave it in an open beaker and after slow evaporation the crystals will form. The purest the higest usually if we are looking for a volatile salt.
After few recrystallizations you will obtain the desired seed crystal (high purity) but usually in small amount. Treasure it! Start over with more gallons of golden water but this time when u dissolve the crude salt in warm water, (always good to filter) wait till it cools down (look for turbidity) and SEED IT = add a tiny amount of your seed crystal and then place it in cold. Try not to mecanically disturb it cuz if u do the crystals will be imperfect. The seed is vital information
There are more fancy pocessess such as fractional recrystallization, vapor diffusion crystllization etc. but this is basically the meaning of SOLVE AND COAGULA = dissolve and coagulate = Recrystalize. Remove d junk. Subtle from the crude
Distillation is another art of separation by boiling point. Steam, vacuum, fractional. All that I will say at this point is that it is essential to start with only one half to to thirds full flask. Phase separation, even heating is optimized while formation – sublimation of crystals in the condenser is avoided and the risk of bubbling over and explosion is reduced. Patience is always the key.
Peace, Light and Love
ORE ET LABORE!