Sodium Carbonate to replace lye

I was walking through the grocery store the other day while waiting on a friend. As I walked looking through the chemical section of the store, pool/automotive. I noticed a pool chemical that claimed it raised the ph of pool water. The container claimed to be 100% sodium carbonate. Upon some wiki research come to find out that it can replace lye in cooking and can be used for acid/base titration. Further research needs to be conducted to test the basicity for organic extractions. When I stumble upon it I will let you guys know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_carbonate

 

I'll tell you what the pH isn't as high as NaOH so you're not going to be able knock things down STB like you can with NaOH and let's say dmt

 

It has its place, but it's not a NaOH replacement.

 

Well thanks for clearing that up so quickly.