Hey guys, just got some weird QA results back. Had two batches of live resin badder come up hot for benzene. I run with just distilled butane. I am curious if anyone has experienced this before and knows where the problem lies. My thoughts are in the purge simply because my other QAs don’t come up hot for anything (so I don’t think it’s my solvent). I don’t vac badder, it’s just warmed and whipped. I keep it on a plate of around 92-98f (maybe too hot?). I usually send it out for QA about a week after pouring it. It is stored in a refrigerator during my off hours, so I don’t keep it on a plate 24/7. I have a few thoughts of what could be causing this:
- Terpene degradation caused by heat degrading the terps to benzene.
-Somehow, the plants were sprayed with something that converted to benzene and got into the extract. this may have happened as a result of the heat applied as well.
-Contaminants in the solvent (not likely, but not impossible).
Just wondering if you guys have any thoughts on this. I really am considering taking heat entirely out of the equation and just whip my badder jars at room temp for like a month. As always, thank you in advance for any responses I get. Happy to provide more info if needed!
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The most likely source of where the benzene came from is the solvent . Send out samples of your butane to get it tested . There have been many threads about benzene contamination in butane
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First thing i would be doing is asking for a coa on the gas.
I would then take a sample of my gas from the system and get it tested.
Then if those are clean i would look into my processes, but i would bet just about everything that this was from the gas and not a conversion of terpenes.
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I absolutely agree with you guys that solvent should be tested, BUT I get a ton of QAs back all the time and NEVER come up with any traces of benzene. So I have received QAs back for multiple batches I made before and after these badder batches that have had no trace amounts. I have already combed through the contaminated solvent threads, I love the search bar here!
I was incorrect with my suggested first step, I would ask the lab to retest and also ask if there have been other benzene positives in that lab around the same time your sample was tested.
Its quite possible they screwed the pooch on their end especially if you have tests before and AFTER that passed.
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I should have mentioned that the lab did say they re-tested it. What I also didn’t mention is that the QA came back with trace amounts of hexane and pentane, which I just don’t have in my lab whatsoever. I would definitely not put it past the lab fucking up. I guess the next step would be getting a test at a different lab altogether. Thanks for your responses, I really appreciate it.
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you can always request to see the chromatograms of the blanks / controls running in your sample batch, or like you mentioned having another lab test to confirm results.
Could definitely be contamination from your extraction solvent still. I know some suppliers will charge more but clean tanks between every refill, vs not cleaning out tanks for cheaper gas. The solvent supplier will always tell you to just buy a higher grade solvent
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It’s easy to miss in a test for the gas but have it concentrate in your extract. It’s from your tane
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Even if the butane was distilled first? (Although I get it would make a difference at what temperature it was distilled)
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Yeah I distill all the butane I run, then clean thoroughly.
So what I gather so far is that it is most likely a batch of contaminated solvent, or a lab fuck up. Chemical reactions in the batch of oil from a minimal-ish amount of heat, shouldn’t make benzene show up.
I’ll keep you guys updated if I get any juicy results. Thanks to those who responded so far.
My money is on the lab fucked it up.
I will say once upon a time I was getting random hits for weird solvents that we don’t use in house. (well below action limits, a few ppm, but definitely hits) It went away when we started taking metrc tags and their photocopies out of the vac ovens. 
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Ive also heard of sharpie having things pop for xylene i believe. switched to a label maker for that reason
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Yup, we use sharpies everywhere
I just wanna circle back around and thank everyone who took the time to respond to this thread. Turns out, you all were right, and that the solvent provider gave me some dirty gas. I guess I just didn’t want to believe…
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If you’re worried about benzene popping up again, use activated carbon as a prefilter and desiccant (with the mole sieve) during cleaning/distillation. Carbon adsorbs benzene. Benzene was popping up when I was using gas from Praxair/Linde, and I had cleaned entire tanks successfully with it. So basically the same exact gas that was hot for benzene was no longer hot after the carbon cleaning. Getting benzene out of the final product is a whole other problem.
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Hey thanks for the reply. Just to make sure I understand right, you run your liquid solvent through a filter of activated carbon, then it goes to your distillation chamber an onward through you mole-sieve, correct? How fine is the activated carbon you use? I appreciate the tips, I too am victim of Praxair/Linde dirty gas as well.
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Yup exactly like that. I extended the mole sieve and put coarse carbon below the beads, separated by welded perforation and some 1um filter papers (just to have em). I think the carbon was from carbon chemistry.
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What about rosin-no solvent used- that pops for benzene? The lab says it’s terpene conversion.
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