Thanks for visiting! ! This short flash animation looks in considerable detail at solvent extraction – a technique used in organic chemistry to remove impurities from a product. This is used, for example, to remove the acidic impurities present in an ester or alkyl halide. As both of these preparations use an acid as a reactant and/or catalyst, the product is always contaminated by them. Here you will see how the product is washed with aqueous sodium hydrogencarbonate in a separating funnel. The relevant equation and physical process involved are outlined as well.