Hey everyone. We are trying to figure out what all auxiliary equipment you use inside your c1d1 extraction booths. if any at all. OUr local rules require vac purging inside our booth. Im new to these sort of regs. Our extraction technique requires a chiller, recovery pump, heater, 2 circulation pumps.
post processing uses a vac oven and pump. none of this equipment has explosion proof plugs. Did you guys have to alter your equipment to fit with explosion proof outlets?
Do any other jurisdictions require you guys to have all of this equipment inside the booth? How did you guys deal?
plumb it thru a wall
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you mean run all my plugs through the wall so the electrical connection is outside the booth?
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nope other way around, plumb your chiller lines, recovery pump lines, heater lines and 2 circ pump lines thru the wall to the stainless steel, leaving the chillers, heaters and pumps in their own space
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nice. those are great solutions. then id just need c1d1 hook ups for the vac oven alone. id be able to run the vac pump through the wall too it would seem.
Make sure you contact the booth provider to figure out where to put them holes. Drilling in the wrong spot could be costly.
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been talking to him a lot lol. he did not provide the above solution tho. his solution was a dozen plugs and altering all my equipment
Just modifying your vac oven plug does not make it explosion proof…
Same goes for a HPLC, which also uses explosive solvents but is not explosion proof.
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good to know. what is hplc?
high performance liquid chromatography. usually used for analytical testing
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Generally speaking a device is rated explosion proof if any sparks that can be generated are contained within itself and cannot reach the volitale material in nornal operation or in a malfunction. They also operate at a temperature below the flashpoint of the volatile materials. Lastly, devices that meet these criteria are usually rated as “explosion proof” and are often independently certified. If equipment is not rated as such you need to put it outside your room. Note that devices rated as “intrinsically safe” are not necessarily explosion proof rated. Intrinsically safe just means if it fails it will do so in predictable safe way.
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Random thought, it would be difficult to make an oven explosion proof. The second the door opens everything in it is above the flash point of your solvents. Maybe if you had proper mechanical locks that do not let the door open if temps are too hot? All the heating elements would have to be totally sealed off as well. Maybe even contained in an inert gas? Fun stuff.
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@mcbreeezy Most likely what they meant was that you need your extractor in a c1d1 area with all auxiliary chillers, heaters, etc. piped in from outside. Within the extractor you will bring the solvent amount in the extract to a level where it doesn’t give off any Lower Explosive Level(LEL) reading, once it’s at zero you can transfer it into a pryex. When the pyrex is at 0% LEL, you can move it into a post processing area, to remove the last bits of solvent in a vacuum oven. This is how Denver County does it, no pours what so ever.
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flammable solvents…
unless you’re doing high performance Color Redemption Chromatography 
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your vacuum oven does not belong in the extraction booth. neither do your chillers or heaters. if your booth builder doesn’t understand that, you probably need a new one (booth builder, possibly booth if they’re that clueless).
some jurisdictions will get twisted on the vacuum pump. if it’s outside the booth, and your operator does something dumb like sucking on your receiver while it’s full of solvent, where does that solvent go, and what happens next?!? If it’s inside the booth, it needs to be rated for it.
All penetrations need to be signed off on by the engineer who certifies the booth. so put down that drill…
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yeah im right there with you. im still seeking clarity from the city about all of this but i keep hearing from the fire marshal that they want the vac oven and pump inside the room. i have repeatedly told them this makes no sense. working with them everyday to get eveyone on the same page. oklahoma city is new to this and really over doing it
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thank you for that info. you cant pour in the c1d1 area? i thought that was the point lol
Yeah Denver can be extreme, one of the fews that have shut down multiple labs for capping jars. I think being one of the first legal states, they regulated to the max to avoid any negative incidents. Yeah they tell you that you gotta scrape it out, because if it has enough solvent to pout it then it’s got too much solvent still in it. They make you take a LEL reading before taking out of the vessel and before taking it out of the c1d1 area.
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Let us know how it all ends up, I am from OKC so I’m curious of the lab regulations especially how fast the industry took off.
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eye opening. thank you