So just setting up various things to test, and after handling the dry 100L ball, I have questions….
So this thing must weight about 60-70lbs empty so what material handling technique are ya’ll using to remove the ball? Like a gantry with a hoist? Pulleys with a strap? I’m honestly just curious to hear from anyone who has used such monstrosity.
There is this cool facility called a gym. They have these weight things that you life up and down and when you combine that with proper diet and lots of water, these things called muscles grow. They let you lift heavy shit without crying like a little girl.
Don’t listen to @villy, he clearly doesn’t know. Most mainstream roto-vap brands don’t go that large, but I’ve worked with Buchi R-250 with 50L, which is in the same boat(Not liftable by OSHA standards).
They sell flask holders, like the one you have posted in the photo. Use the motor from the rotovap to lift the flask to accommodate the Holder. Use two people to lift the flask and mount over bath with holder. Attach rotovap to the flask while on the holder. Take care and take your time, they chip so easy. Make sure its perfectly aligned. Clamp, lower bath to remove holder, raise bath. NEVER remove a ball filled with solvent. Evaporate ALL solvent before removing. Use two people to lift holder+ ball in the method posted above, but reversed.
In your case, I’d use a hoist system mounted from ceiling, which is what we did for the very big spinning ethanol systems.
Edit: I’d also go generous on the alconox cause thats a dirty dirty ball.
lol osha.. never heard of her…. clearly you dont know what a satire comment is… internet isnt for you bud.
Check out Asahi’s 100L and 200L they have a crazy cart to hold your balls
Almost worth using just so I can say my balls so big I need a cart to carry it. Don’t need to hit the gym anymore.
Well of course I can just grab it with my pinky, but when you have employees working in the lab and you want to avoid potential accidents…. I’m trying to sell it and present a solution to whoever decides to buy such a thing. What if you used silicon oil in your bath, picture pouring that hot slick 100lb ball that chips easy….. GLG olympic sport?
Systems this size work best with a dip tube
On the valve at the rear there is a glass tube that extends to the inside of the ball place a ptfe hose on this glass tube and run it to the bottom of the glass ball you can now pull a vacuum on a vessel and attach a hose that’s connected to the glass valve and suck the ball empty works really will if liquid is not to viscous
Well damn now it makes a lot of sense! Thanks.
This was what I came here to say
Glad someone else beat me to it
Don’t mind Villy, they’re (I’m assuming youre a they/them since you hide behind a private profile) just trying to be cheeky, but come off as a douche.
Ding ding ding!
Lift your balls?
Nah, have your employees suck them dry..,
a gantry crane would also work well with the right sling and hoist
do what @Roguelab suggested, get some ptfe tube and attach it to the downstem of the fluid inlet all the way down to the pool in the bottom of the ball, you’ll probably need to heat it and bend it so the top of the ptfe tube stays below the liquid level, but it essentially eliminates the need to take the ball off as you can pull vac on a buffer flask to evacuate your oil with this method
I would second everyone else’s suggestions regarding a dip tube and using a vacuum to siphon out of the flask. Even running 50L roto’s I never bothered to remove them unless they needed a deep clean.
Just put a Y connection at the input where you feed into the flask and ensure the tube reaches as close to the bottom of the rotovap as you can get (honestly a 100g or so leftover in the bottom if it’s all just recovering solvent to make crude won’t matter if it carries over from batch to batch). You can feed from half the Y connection and then when you need to drain use the other side of the Y connected to a vacuum and container to collect in and you can just siphon the material out. Flask never needs to come off.
My old Heidolph had the PTFE dip tube, which was fantastic for continuous feed/drain configurations…. on a 5L-10L rotovap…
The big challenge I faced was needing at least 1:1 solvent to get it to flow through the tube. When I worked with 50L, I just angled the opening down from a table(on a cart), into a second vessel and let gravity + heat do the work. Just wipe down the ball before to prevent water contamination. The point is to remove all the solvent, not leaving some behind for another machine……. which is what you should be using instead of a rotovap. 100L ball is fucking crazy. There’s a reason the mainstream companies cap out at 50L and are usually configured for 20L. I’d rather have two 50L than one 100L. I’d rather have three 20L than two 50L. I’d rather have a falling film sized to the application, followed by a small rotovap for polishing when/if needed. Membranes are a great option too. Also, never use oil in a rotovap, especially that large- its horrible, gross, and dangerous(broken glass/hot oil).
Everything @Ganjineer710 said is exactly right.
Referring to oil in the heating bath, not oil in the flask.
Not always I have two processes in my lab where no other tool than a roto can solve
No falling film and no membrane no still all have issue s solving what I need solved
The fractional distillation I can do secondary on a roto s condenser only a still can
But the evaporation surface on a roto is beter than a still
Glycerine is a good option for hotter than 100C
Qvf sells more 100 roto s than 50L
