What up gang? I’m running an ETS MiniMEP and have been experiencing clogging of our sintered disk at the bottom of the material column. I sent out an email to @ETSgang to get some options regarding different filter sizes and maybe some procedural changes to help the gas flow better.
We recently switched from running a backlog of trim to fresh-frozen flower. I run with a Huber Unistat 815 and Huber CS100 at -60C and -20C, respectively. The solvent mixture is 70/30 from Airgas.
My issue is that my techs are having trouble moving the gas from the material column into the collection column. We are at about 100-150psi in the material column and <~10psi in the collection column. Even with inert gas assist up to 150psi, the solvent just won’t move into the collection column with any force. My conclusion is that the disc is clogging quickly during these runs.
I am going to put down some “fast” 20um filter paper in hopes that a dual-stage filter approach can keep the lower micron filter from clogging so quickly.
Has anyone else experienced this? Is it just a matter of keeping the filter clean/changing it out.
On concern is that we are losing time and my company is pushing me to hit 18 runs/day in the ETS MiniMEP. With this slowdown, we are not able to hit that throughput.
Show us pictures of the columns.
You probably have their stock 3inch columns.
And with that much fats and lipids clogging up in the disks.
That’s a safety issue.
At least go to a 6x6 and just stack your filtration in a way where the fats can go through, but “won’t”. If that makes sense with my retarded ass.
I am using molecular Sieve 3A supplied from ETS. J have 1 sock filled with sieve in the “expansion column” that is in-line after the collection column, before the corken.
Additionally, a column filled with 3A sieve right after the pump, before the condensing coils.
Im talking about your crc media. Your sieves should be dry too but the filter aides you use pull moisture out of the air too and when youbhit them with cold solvent it can freeze and loco the column.
I was using it previously to remove moisture from the solvent when distilling gas from a new tank. It waa very humid in the summer and cause a lot of ice in the system which was leading to blockage.
Since its been less humid, I stopped running it through CRC initially.
Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the filters that are clogging.
It’s also possible that your lines are getting clogged with the previous run’s extract. Especially if you are running a propane blend, you know how rapidly that gas evaporates, leaving traces of undissolved extract in your lines. Multiply this by a few runs and there could definitely be enough solid extract in a line to prevent the miscella from transferring. After each transfer of miscella from material column to collection vessel, maybe pass through a little bit of clean solvent to clean the lines.
