Recovery of reactive soap lubricants

A method for operating a reactive lubricant bath in a cold forming treatment process where the reactive lubricant bath is a buffered, aqueous solution containing sodium stearate prepared from high purity stearic acid, said method comprising:

• (1) periodically removing a portion of the aqueous solution;
• (2) acidifying the removed aqueous solution at a temperature of 180.degree. F. or higher;
• (3) cooling the acidified solution so that the fatty acid forms on the surface of the acidified solution;
• (4) collecting the fatty acid formed on the surface of the cooled and acidified solution;
• (5) heating the collected fatty acid to a temperature sufficient to liquefy the collected fatty acid;
• (6) reacting the liquefied fatty acid with a sodium salt to produce sodium stearate;
• (7) returning the recovered sodium stearate to the reactive lubricant bath.

A process for the recovery of a hydrophobic metallic stearate from a spent reactive sodium stearate solution from cold forming operations, said process comprising:

• (1) adjusting the pH of the spent reactive sodium stearate solution to a value greater than about 7;
• (2) reacting the basic spent reactive sodium stearate solution with a metal salt where the metal of the metal salt is selected from the group consisting of aluminum, zinc, barium, lithium, and calcium;
• and
• (3) collecting the hydrophobic metallic stearate from the surface of the solution formed in step (2).