IMO this whole issue is based on hearsay and incomplete/inconsistent information.
I feel you on the frustration about this issue, I have had it too, but you all have seriously jumped the gun by blaming the gas companies for this without having proper evidence.
It doesn’t help that now all the gas companies smell blood in the water and are jockeying to be the golden boy who rises up and gets your business.
To me it’s incredible that you all are getting this hyped up, including talking about suing (LOL) and planning a media event around this issue without a single one of you actually getting your gas tested independently and on it’s own.
Do you not see the huge gap in logic between making hash, then testing hash and then blaming gas suppliers for what’s found in the hash without an independent test of the gas on its own?
I believe butane/propane and benzene are very easy to separate via distillation. This is dead easy for the gas suppliers to do and I generally believe they are not sending out benzene contaminated gas.
The issue with THCgas/Cortland from awhile back with the garlic smell is a completely different issue. I’m sure on occasion other things have happened as well.
I don’t think co distillation is an issue. You guys are giving that too much credit here. The BPs of these compounds are very far apart. I am not finding any evidence of azeotropes forming with butane and benzene either.
Doing your own controlled distillation before adding gas to your system would be very effective at removing any minor residual benzene from butane/propane if there were any.
I agree with Phil’s statements below although I believe the incoming gas will be found to be mostly clean once you guys actually start testing it: