Anyone have information on the particle size of T5? I have 5 micron screens currently, will that be enough to prevent any clay from getting through? Thanks.
1 Like
Yes
Silica60 is the only powder where I am in doubt
1 Like
It won’t be enough to catch everything right away. There will be passthrough as the puck settles. I suggest running clean ethanol (or solvent in use) through until there is no more passthrough. I used to use a coffee filter (nominal 20um) to allow the puck to be formed. As the puck (or cake as some say) settles, it develops a deeper, more refined matrix that will be far finer than whatever you have it placed on, effectively trapping itself.
Edit: If you have mixed the magic dirt with your tincture, crude, or other media, I suggest two passes through the same filter to ensure there is no passthrough lingering from the early stages of filtration.
5 Likes
Up to now by placing celite as last powder or calcinated quartz
I have not have powders treu
But then again I have the 0.2um filter
Also 
1 Like
@Roguelab, are you using filter papers or a reusable one? I know that I have had AC pass through 0.2um time and time again, but the T5 catches it every time!
1 Like
Filter paper and ss disks
And the 0.2um filter cartridge
This is for crc so no AC in my stack
1 Like
@Roguelab, as you know, I am fond of the AC/T5 combo for ethanol CRC. I’m curious how long the sintered disks at 0.2um work for at their rated level of filtration. Filter papers get to be so damn expensive! Haha (not that you can out a price on putting out clean products to market!)
1 Like
The coffee filter still does most filter needs in my shop😁
The 0.2um is a cartridge type and amazingly keeps flowing for quit some time now the sinterd I still place paper over before any powder to prevent
Clogging
My next project is a seperate solvent crc unit for butane /propane
With a very large sintered cartridge filter and 60% of most powders
Mixed in the pressure vessel
Let them drop and siphon of the solvent
See if that gets me any where 
2 Likes
I noticed on my bag of silica it has its mesh size listed at 200-400 mesh. The information I found is that 200 mesh is equivalent to 74 micron. Seems 5 micron screen gasket would hold it back no problem.
Any thoughts?
2 Likes
This is due to the bentonite removing the negative charges on the surface of the particles of activated carbon. This has the effect of causing tiny particles to stick to each other rather than repel each other. This makes it so simple filtration can be used to remove AC.
4 Likes
t5 for the win. Have you had a chance to try b80?
2 Likes
I have not. T5 and AC worked so well, I never needed to do anything different. (And I had no funding or time for experimentation)
With a properly made (wet set or slurry packed) bentonite filter cake im able to remove any solid particle from a solution no matter what size particles are suspended. Ive got this discount Celite 545 from EMD millipore, thw reason it was discounted was because the product hadnt been sieved for particles smaller than 20 micron. It contains a great deal of crystalline silica particles below 5 micron in size… as such its extremely hazardous to work with in comparison with normal celite 545 or even silica gel.
A slurry packed bentonite filter cake was able to remove 100% of particles of that bullshit celite and carbon chem’s hardwood AC powder too.
I always start my CRC stack with abig layer of sterile sand and a layer of bentonite on top of that to keep silica gel particles out of my final product.
2 Likes
What sand do you use?
Got myself a #50 bag of sand from Home Depot. To remove the really fine particles of sand i poured it through a spaghetti strainer into a bucket and had a fan close by lightly blowing directly at the sand as it was falling through the strainer.
With most of the small particles gone it works much better as a depth filter. Faster flow rates.
To clean the sand I put it in a pot with boiling water with detergent, I allowed it to settle and then decanted the water and added fresh tap water and boiled again. When the sand dried I rinsed it with acetone.
2 Likes
Im having trouble with stuff getting past filters, so I might have to try this out.
Make sure you set the bentonite cake properly, make sure no clay is making it through before you give it any sediment to filter.
1 Like
I am looking to test some Tclay as my distillate was still dark and appeared to be pulling moisture in decarb/distillation. could that be from water solubles leaching through? Also I have extremely visible degradation qualities to the distillate I am hoping to remedy by using the Tclay after a carbon filter pass. Looking for any suggestion prior to testing and micron size filter for after the Tclay to make sure it has all been removed.
It does sound like there is water present in the extract and that would be the reason you have water soluble leaching through from the extraction and that would cause your distillate to be dark
we were previously freezing the trim but the freezer was not consistent and added moisture so we are packing room temp dry trim. I am concerned with a sort of condensation leaking into our CUP30 or somewhere along the way between our multiple saturation. Does not seem to be the trim anymore so I was suspecting sugars possibly to be passing through and releasing moisture in decarb and distillation but not sure. The moisture is very obvious at those stage by condensing on coils in reactor and fogging up the VTAs as the distillate passes. does not appear to be on the terp side or black side during distillation so I am assuming it is a property attaching onto the THC? Really looking for opinions on the T5 for remedy or with my extraction. For now it will be above desired extraction temps while I jacket the equipment.