Hello looking for some solid information on best cloth bags for etoh bucket tech. We are looking to purchase a 50L USA rotovap to turn our cbd bio mass to crude has anyone had bad expirences with these for the price. I know there’s better out there but this seems to fit my price range the best
Can’t help you with the bags, but are you talking about a USA labs rotovap? They’re Chinese, but good quality for the price. Keep in mind that you’re going to pay almost as much for a chiller as you do for the rotovap, and the general consensus seems to be that the Chinese chillers aren’t worth bothering with. Plus budget $2k for a Chinese vacuum pump. Good luck !
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Welcome kolby, so you had two questions and @gramjmahal brought up some good points in terms of solvent recovery investment.
- Cloth Bags: Look for material that has low reactivity with ethanol. Nylon seems to be the go-to material.
- For solvent recovery make sure you get a clear idea of how much solvent you will be required to recovery every hour of a workday. Then shop for a manufacturer that will provide a full recovery system that will meet those rates. as gramjmahal said, a roto is paired with a recirculating chiller so get a turnkey system with ethyl recovery rates advertised.
Thanks for the tip on the bag @Darrenjaydirect . I’m looking to do about 20,000 pounds of bio mass so a falling film I’m finding may be a better option I see some China ones for 20-50k claiming 200 liters a hour , I’m thinking that may be a better route then two of the USA 50l rotovaps .but uncertain of the quality of alibaba falling film curious if anyone uses these cheap falling film and if there’s any company’s I can be directed to ? Any knowledge is greatly appreciated
By cloth are you referring to an extraction bag? Cause we use mesh bags for that normally. May I ask what size extraction vessel you are looking at and what type. Pot or centrifuge style?
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Yes meant extraction bag. Was considering slurry vs bag method bag seems easier that is if it’s compatible with budget bucket tek. Plan to do 2 sets following futures outlined bucket tek, estimated 1000 lbs a day full work days. Want to build recovery to least bottle neck us and give us room to grow without initial reinvestment.
1000 lbs a day using the bucket tek? That’s a lot using the bucket tek, honestly. How many people are you planning on doing this? Lifting a bag with more than 10lbs wet material is complicated for one person without getting soaked yourself.
That’s why I’m asking. What will you be using to separate etho from biomass? Which is why i was asking for dimensions of your extraction vessel and your centrifuge/ washing machine.
Cause using a floodable centrifuge for those amounts makes more sense than using the bucket tek, unless there’s an update I’ve missed.
Hi Kolby,
https://www.amazon.com/cheesecloth-bags/s?k=cheesecloth+bags Check these out this is kinda what we started with lots of sizes for you to work with. The 4x9 will hold about 2lbs dry material. Also can search food grade mesh bags or micron bags.
You did read that he wants to do 1000lbs a day, right? I don’t think those will cut it for what he says he needs.
It looks to me like you are likely going to have to change your plan. I could be wrong, but straight off the bat that’s my 2 cents.
1000 lbs a day would be nice , but just need something decently efficient to run 20k lbs of biomass looking to get it done as cheap as possible cause funds are tight. I’m open to new cheap suggestions to get the job done as I am a farmer not a extractor so your opinions go along way! I’m working with about 30-50k to get everything done if I stretch it. Was thinking about 2 washers and 6 55 gallon drum wash buckets with a cheap China FFE and hopefully a lab society short path 20L if I can afford it after all other expenditures if not I was just gonna leave it crude. working with a crew of 4. Not sure on any dimensions yet cause have not started setting anything up . Thanks for the knowledge everybody i’m learning quite a bit
Ok,
This makes it easier. The reason I’m questioning the bucket tek is cause I haven’t read up on the 55 gal update.
I’ve been doing extractions directly out of a washer to kinda mimic a flooded centrifuge. But I’ll tell you that without a real closed loop centrifuge you’re gonna be losing a decent amount of etho. I lose around 2 gallons per 15 gal in one run. The larger the batch size the more etho you lose.
If you use 55 gal drums you’re going to have to figure out how much each washer can comfortably spin to determine your batches. My standard washer does 10-12lbs material at once and sometimes I have to spin them twice to get out enough etho. If I went ham it could maybe take 20lbs. But I haven’t wanted to, cause I use pandas to try and squeeze the last out of it and also for the second wash. So there are alot of parameters to think of before you will find what works smoothly for you. I’m using standard 5 gal bubble bags (full mesh) and put 5 of those with 2lbs each in. But I only do maybe 60lbs a day when I run. So I’m not even the 10th of your size. But yeah, you start there and build your way up. It’ll take a while and a lot of etho to get through 20k lbs material.
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Thank you that helps a lot I’m starting to think I may need a few more washers ! So I can expect to loose about 15% etho before recovery and roughly about another 30% etho after recovery ? Is that about accurate to what you loose ?
I’d say 15% including extraction, etho recovery and rotovap for me.
It’s normally around 10% if I do the extraction on a pot and squeeze out as much etho as I can before putting into the washer. Again it’s all down to what size bags you use and how much material is in them and how fast your washer spins.
So 10-15% on average.
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The bucket Tek is not the efficient way to run 1000lbs per day. You will require (10) washing machines and 4 employees working 10-12 hr shifts and still lose 15% of your ethanol in the biomass.
The major bottleneck in this process is filtration. How are you planning to filter 600 gallons of crude/ethanol mix per shift?
I recommend purchasing a centrifuge system from China if you’re on a budget. You can find a system similar to the cup15 for around 6k.
Be cautious investing all your capital if you don’t know if you have a market for it though. I feel that is a warning you should think about. The industry is in a weird position. It’s easy thinking you’ll make all the money. Look at all the hemp farmers and distillate producers who now can’t move their product. It’s a rude awakening of you have funds now to invest it all just to find out you can’t move it.
Yes I was just giving a link to bags. That’s all
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Fo sho, I’m sorry if I came off like a tool replying like that, good sir.
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