Limited experience with rotovaps currently but will be purchasing one (maybe two) in the next couple of weeks for ethanol recovery after winterization. I wanted to reach out and hopefully get some advice by someone who is using a rotovap(s) on a near daily basis. Assumptions are as follows: 180lb of 10% CBD biomass per day. Assuming a 70% extraction efficiency we will be producing roughly 5.7L of crude per day. Winterizing with Ethanol at a 10:1 ratio that means we will need to be able to recover 50-60Liters of ethanol in a rotovap daily. We also intend to double production after this year.
I am currently trying to decide between going with a 10L rotovap now and then purchasing an additional 10L unit once we ramp up production or just purchasing a single 20L rotovap. Is it better from a production flow standpoint to have 2 smaller units or 1 larger one? Would love to get some opinions. I am currently leaning towards the (2)x10L option so that in the future if one unit goes down we are not completely dead in the water. The downside to two units is more maintenance, cleaning, parts that can break.
“Is a 50L out of the question for you?”
-No absolutely not I felt that a 50L might just be overkill but I am definitely entertaining the idea of one. What is your average recovery rate on a 50L?
“Is winterization as far as your taking the oil?”
-No after winterization we will be decarbing (vacuum oven most likely) and then going to WFE for distillation and then onto crystallization.
“We have 2 50l that are in constant use, and are looking to pick up a 3rd, but we are also doing crystalization and THC remediation.”
-Are you using your rotovaps for the crystallization and THC remediation? We are currently looking into crystallization reactors to make our isolate.
If you don’t mind me asking what brand are your 50L? Do you have any upgrades such as dual receiving flask or dual condensers? I have been looking at Across International solventvap series and the price seems reasonable just want to ensure the quality is there.
Get a 20 with dual recovery flasks- uninterrupted service is a game changer- and a smaller roto to transfer the thicker more reduced crude into when the volume is significantly reduced-
there’s another thread on here that talks about why 20L are better in terms of efficiency than a 50L due to chiller requirements and some other factors.
Tons of info on this subject but also be prepared for a lot of squabbling as well.
Average recovery rate on ours is probably in the ballpark of 10l an hour for EtOH maybe more
Our process looks something like winterize > rotovap > distill > crystalization > rotovap mother liquor down > remediate THC > rotovap > combine > final solvent cleanup.
But depending on your process your needs will be different. We are working with roughy the same amount of crude per day, and it would be impossible to use a single 20l for us but YMMV.
I have heard nothing about great things about the Heidolph Unit but the price is hard for me to justify having never seen one of these units in person. If I use a unit such as the one you linked would it still be required to be operated in a class 1 division 2 room or would the enclosure that it comes in take care of that. On the Heidolph 20L unit what are your average recovery rates?