I got this CLS used from a friend. I have been running it for about a year now. Im pretty familiar with it. There are some extras, material columns, vac ovens, etc.
Then i have added post processing to include winterization, scrubbing, chromatography, distillation.
The guys i bought this from made high end shatters/diamonds/applesauce with it. When i got it i was all about making live resin because of all the cooling coils and such.
As soon as i learned i could make clear from crude it was all over.
Now i just want to make it the most efficient, fastest configuration to extract crude. And i want to add a CRC of course.
First, im probably not running it in the most efficient way. I tried to make extraction go faster by skipping the pre-chilling coil and blasting with room temp tane. I cant skip the dewax column because vacuum runs my whole system (yes all passive). So i dont hold in the dewax column for too long only long enough to suck the tane from the material column. Then i play with the valves to suck out every last little bit of tane.
Now, at this point i have already chilled the recovery pot using the internal coil and a recirculating chiller in a dry ice slurry. If i open the recovery valve right here it will start passively recovering and suck the rest of the tane from the dewaxing column and if need be from the material column.
Then i close off the material column, break it down (or put up another column), and turn the heat to the collection pot jacket and start heat assisted passively recovering. It takes usually up to an hour or so to recover the 20-23 pounds of tane and i lose usually 3# per run. The solvent gets dried by a molecular seive on the way to the recovery vessel.
Thats pretty much my whole closed loop. It takes me 40-80# of dry ice for the first run and at least 40# for each additional run i do that day. Im sure theres lots of room for improvement. Remember i didnt design this i bought it used and made due. Like i said there are a couple things i have removed along the way. They had digital thermometers in each column to monitor the (cryo) temp of the solvent at different points.
I have not been concentrating on dewaxing/cryo temps because i wanted to get the most possible yeild and take care of it in processing. Now i have seen the error of my ways and im looking for clear everywhere.
Where would i put the CRC in my loop? How big/small does it need to be? Can i repurpose my filter stack or parts of it to make one? I have lots of other parts etc also.
Any input at all would be greatly appreciated. I am truly humbled to be here
