How many times is everyone distilling their solvent before running it? Does everyone always do a clean run before running butane or propane and how many times is normal? We got some propane yesterday, and after the second dry run it was still disgusting and left a ton of nastiness inside the collection pot. Anybody running into this issue? We are running about 40 lbs of solvent per run so I was curious what is the most efficient way to clean the gas so it’s good enough to run? Dry runs through the system and cleaning out the collection pot doesn’t seem like the best way to get the crap out of our gas.
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usually only once but after reading this…i think i need to distill more than once…Are you dumping straight into the collection pot or shooting it threw filtering like you would during a run. Seen some people post up some nasty shit on instagram from distilling gas though.
I usually distill threw my whole extractor set up with some filtering paper to collect some of the heavier particles.
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The best way I have found is to distill the gas out of the tank. If you boil vapor off the tank and use the collection pot as a separator you can clean it up first try. Are you seeing resides ? Perhaps is the oil contamination in your storage tank?
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If you are doing a dry run - passing the solvent through the material column, hoses, etc - then you will likely be left with a bunch of oxidized and awful looking oil/crap at the bottom of collection pot. This is definitely good practice to clean everything out. We distill our solvent first before even doing a dry run, loading the solvent direct into the collection pot, boiling it off, and recovering into solvent tank. You shouldn’t have much noticeable residue if the solvent is relatively pure. Just a quick wipe out. We use 99.5% minimum.
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Yesterday we ran through the entire system, today the plan is to get a tank designated for being dirty to fill from the storage tank in case that’s where some of the contaminates are coming from. Then we are going to try going from dirty tank to collection vessel bypassing the material columns and distill into a clean tank, until clean. This was the first runs on this machine, could some of the residue that we picked up be from the inside of the machine, cause I was very surprised how much nasty stuff was collected from the second run of same gas.
I was hoping 1-2 distillations max to clean but at this rate it might be 4-5. Any other tips are appreciated thanks for the good ideas! I will post after doing more cleaning dry runs today.
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You clean and scrub the entire thing before assembly? Rinse lines ext?
yes, 8 months ago lol when we got it, they did a pretty thorough clean, we have been keeping up with the outside cleanliness, i doubt they did another inside scrub before the run though and 8 months is a lot of down time. I guess these next few runs with the gas, and then the next time we fill from that container will answer that question for us probably. You guys are the best, the guy who trained us on the equipment said he has noticed a decline in quality of gas over the last year or 2 and has seen a rise in left over crap.
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Where do you source your gas? We have been getting some pretty nice 99.85% cheaper than 99% it just has some propane and nitrogen impuritys. Brand is extractors choice.
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Ive been running extractors choice from BVV as well. Its really clean gas. It is certainly cleaner than the chinese eco green gas i use to buy.
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The units in our facility actually have a spare honeypot which is used exclusively as an intermediary loading and distillation vessel. It adds some size and cost onto the machine but nothing beats having rust flakes and mystery oil trapped in that spare vessel while you seamlessly load the unit in mid-operation.
Just that one initial distill is usually enough, just make sure to keep that gauge above or at 0PSI at close to room temperature if you’re trying to remove pentane or hexane.
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You ever get tanks without dip tubes and distill off the tank? We do that with really good results.
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In my experience there is no magic number to amount of dry runs you should do. I’ve gotten 8 distillations deep and still picked up residue. Processing spent material can help pick up some of the nasty faster. On the flip side I’ve also had near spotless solvent right from run #1.
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Maybe we can take this conversation on another tangent…
What does everyone do with your gas after running a “hot” batch?
I dont have a GC nor live in a legal complaint state. Typically what i do for sampling is run 2oz batch in a small CLS. If the batch shows signs of Foliar or Pesticides…I dump the sample and refuse the bulk of the material.
That leads me to what to do with the gas i know was ran on hot material…FOR THE LAST 3-4 Years, Id just dump the gas or transfer it to a spare tank for later use on only “hot” material.(doing favors for some friends even though i know the oil or end product will be shit)
is there a way to clean up this type of gas? I dont think a simple distillation will work to clean this up, if distilling my gas still leaves reminisce of terpenes.
Im just asking cause ive been eating threw gas lately with all the diamond and sauce making. Just trying to save a bit of cash but if it cant be perfect…ill just continue to dump the gas.
Thanks in advance
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Hey buddy hope you been doing good!
I got question, help me to understand, what are the signs if I’m ever buying material to know it’s a “hot” batch…
I’m guessing since I don’t use pesticides I’m good…I get bunch lady bugs every so often… Never thought about where their shit might be going though!
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Couldn’t We use something similar to a CRC filter stack to help filter/clean propane or butane contaminants and mystery oil‘s
Also I’m thinking the possibility of changing the ph of The Solvent.
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Hi all,
New here. I know this thread was speaking to pre-clean of solvents. Anyone have any ideas for a cleaning system post reaching solubility limit. Our machine is three batches before we need to replace solvent. In my mind a steam column distillation unit made to strip only butane and propane back off? Like the crude oil distillation plant used to extract in the first place. Not possible for a smaller operation, obviously. What do you think?
Thanks for your thoughts in advance.
I wonder if you should put a CRC in place. That might help?
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This is new tech I have never run before. There is an option, I would have gotten it had I been At the company at the time. I have not run a batch yet, I am definitely going to test their information.
Mol sieves in all known sizes ,AC and magsil do wonders on vapor so might be an option
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I use 3x18 seive, with 3a beads, but I will be adding 13x to the top 1/3 of my column
The most solvent i run is around 15lbs
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