AI 10L Rotovap Dual Condenser + Receiving Keg Hack

Hey all, went through this entire site looking for any write up or how-to on adding an additional condenser to an AI 10L SolventVap, so decided to do some testing on my own and figured I should put this somewhere for anyone else curious.

So AI offers a dual condenser option and package for the 20L SolventVap but not the 10L and we need to increase throughput desperately so I figured to try some stuff. The bridge they sell made out of glass on AI is too large to connect with AI’s QuickClamp’s… the 20L uses a thicker glass so the QuickClamp would not stay closed. I bought from AI, two QuickClamp #60s, a 10L SolventVap Top Condenser, two glass tee barbs and a pack of 5 GL14 nozzles

What I found was that the QuickClamp #60 sits flush with 2" Triclamp… so I took some silicone triclamp gaskets and used a razor blade to make one side flat and used the flat part against the glass. You can tighen the Quickclamps dramatically more than they are typically tightened without any worry so the seal worked perfectly.

I purchased some stainless steel Tee Joint in 2" and a 2" elbow and put a PTFE 2" triclamp gasket between them and it worked out that the two condensers would be even next to each other.

I used glass tee joints from AI to split the two coolant lines and used the extra barb on my vaccuum gauge to add a second vac line.



The receiving keg was because the 5000ml receiving glass flask would fill up too quickly and waste time by dropping the vac/cooling… so I bought a 50L stainless steel keg, drilled out the d-key and fitted a 2" to 1.5" triclamp conical reducer. I drill out two 3/4th inch holes in the top and in the side of the keg and pipe threaded them and put ball valves with PTFE tape… the key was $160, valves a few dollars - everything stainless steel…

The receiving keg has piping and a valve (all in 1.5" which fits with the glass fitting at the bottom of the bottom condenser on AI’s 10L SolventVap) and a similar gasket setup to the one above.

So far I estimate these two hacks have reduced labor by 25% and increased productivity by about 50% to 75% … maybe someone has the same issue and this can help.

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Nice! Thanks for sharing!!

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Very slick! Well put together too. I’ve never seen glass tees like that, where did you get them?

Edit: you said AI and I should learn to read, sorry

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You can buy those…

https://www.amazon.com/Sanitary-SILICONE-GASKET-Column-Adapter/dp/B0711H6XKD

Just the first hit. You can get them cheaper. And in ptfe if that floats your boat.

I’ve used the razor trick on standard ptfe gaskets, never tried it on silicone

Given the better heat transfer properties of stainless, the next trick is swapping in a stainless tube & shell.

Edit: cheaper… ($2) & ptfe

https://www.brewershardware.com/F1GASSIL.html

https://www.brewershardware.com/ptfe-flat-half-gasket-for-2-tri-clover-compatible-cap.html?category_id=253

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Because one should always credit those upon whose shoulders we stand.

And @Rowan certainly upped my game with that tidbit

Optimizing your RotoVap - #155 by cyclopath

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Looks good! Never thought I’d see stainless on a roto lol good job man

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50L stainless steel keg is a good idea to solve continuous work, thank you for sharing.

You can play the same trick using 1.5” tri-clamp parts on the smaller rotovaps.

You can’t get off the shelf one-sided gaskets, but you can get a decent seal by stacking a silicone triclamp gasket on top of the oem one…and a ptfe version could certainly be fabricated.

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is that an inline filter going into the roto? Ive been looking at ways to implement one that looks nice!

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It is.

A @Photon_noir special (cotton balls).

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If you wanna be cheap and dirty a fuel filter works too. Diesel engine build shops have stainless and glass ones for show trucks.

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Thanks guys! I am going to try out the fuel filter

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Coil in a sous vide bath to pre-heat ethanol wash

Yeah if you want to maximize efficiency you gotta preheat solution. i forgot who came up with having it run through the hot water bath of the roto but i have always wanted to try it, Is there a cheap place to get kegs that have the hole on top for a 4" or 6" triclamp?

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I’ve seen multiple implementations…and pretty sure I’ve seen multiple folks share it here too.

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Cheap fuel filters on Amazon work really well. Open, rinse and ready to go.

We went with this 30 micron sized one

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