Attached are two photos of before and after test results.
The original sample (baseline) was a batch of distillate I made for a customer (who clearly doesn’t know how to grow). You can see it tested positive for 8 pesticides. LOQ means it tested positive but under the limit of quantification (the machine can’t detect the amount). ULOQ means upper limit of quantification which is +10 PPM. You can see the legal limit in Michigan for myclobutanil is 0.2 ppm.
Next, I took a 20g sample of the failed distillate, put it into a pint sized mason jar, carefully squirted butane in there and capped it. I’d say I did about a 1:1 volume ratio. I let it dissolve for about a week (it didn’t need a week, it just took me a week to get to it).
After the week I put the mason jar in the freezer to keep it more stable for the next step. I then packed a 4”x8” stainless steel filter stack with a 5 micron sintered disk from BVV then 100g t5 on top of that, then 200g magnesol, 100 silica, 100 magsil pr, and lastly a whatman filter paper with a ring to hold it in place. Next, I took the mason jar out of the freezer and poured it into the filter stack right on top of the filter paper.
Using a little colder than room temperature butane I began to flush the distillate/butane solution through my CLS and into the collection bowl.
It wasn’t a quick process, but it works. 7 out of 8 pesticides including myclobutanil, paclobuzatrol, trifloxystrobin, and piperonyl butoxide were removed in the process.
I ran butane over my filter for about 1.5 hrs. Stopped to check and see if all the distillate filtered through and it hadn’t. When I pulled the top of the filter stack, half of my original solution still appeared to be in there and it was soupy still like when I first put the sample in the filter stack. I didn’t turn to a rock which is what I had expected due to the colder temperature.
I capped it again, poured more butane over the top and then stalled it for 25 minutes so the butane and distillate mix could solubility more before pushing through the filter. Then I flushed it for another 1 hr with butane continuously using my pump and heater and condensing coil. By that time the sample had made it all the way through into the collection bowl. All in all it was about 4 hour experiment.
To be honest, I didn’t do the best at measuring weight in and weight out so I’m not sure how much was lost, other then the pesticide weight; and that was the goal.
Just wanted to put my notes out to the community. I think you could run liters of distillate through this process if you did it right. Bigger filter stack (maybe a cone filter like ive seen on Bizzybee Instagram), warm distillate, warmer butane liquid/vapors and either a vacuum or nitrogen assist to get the flow speed right. Some Sight glasses would be great to incorporate for better visuals.
