Co2 extraction w ethanol

Yea Im confused as well. Are you asking about winterization after processing with C02 or are you talking about CXE?

I suspect the former, but bringing CXE into the discussion is not unreasonable from an educational standpoint :rofl:

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We use both C02 and ethanol extraction equipment and then use ethanol for winterization and refinement. I would say the C02 offers more flexibility to run both subcritical and supercritical, we can pull terps off the beginning of the run and then ramp the pressure up during extraction, so we end up with a larger range of compounds, which is both good and bad. Overall it is beneficial for a very full spectrum extract with lots of terps, but it requires more refinement which we do use ethanol for, so I agree that the ‘pure C02/cleaner extract’ marketing is total BS. They are both clean when done right. The cryo-ethanol is very good at predominantly targeting cannabinoids (leaving out much of the wax) and you can run higher volumes with much faster run times, so that is where the bulk of the industry is headed for scale and efficiency. Just my two cents, I am still somewhat new to running all this…

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thank you for your reply. sure is alot of BS out there.

Have you any comment on these ultrasonic extraction systems?

GB

Cyclopath,

If you first extract with ethanol to get to your crude, then what/how do you post process with CO2? AM very interested in what this process looks like- beginning with EtOh and ending with CO2.

Thanks

I don’t have a solution, just a strong feeling that that particular rabbit hole might yield. Not currently exploring it. that would require parts not on hand.

although…there are parts of a home built CO2 extractor lying around the lab i’m currently calling home…:thinking:

the simplest thing to point to would be SFC eg Super crtical fluid chromatography ppt

but there are other advantages of using ethanol in your CO2 machine, see: Open source CXE retrofit for Co2 extractors

The problem is there are very few customers for a “pure” Co2 product. For self stable products elimination of waxs and lipids are necessary. While you can extract very clean fractions with Co2 it’s not commonly done because of the inefficiency of these selective extractions and the lack of a market for these products.

My agreement is if your going to add ethanol to a Co2 extract anyway, why not have the solvent do some extracting for you. Thus CXE allows you to extract at 10x the speed of Co2 alone with identical volumes of ethanol used for winterization.

The biggest plus to this CXE style system is that you can winterize inline using the JT cooling of the separator evacuation to cryogenically cool the tincture. In addition you get the antisolvent properties of the low pressure Co2 which increases the coagulation rate tremendously allowing for high quality winterization within minutes of the extraction.

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thank you for the links. My Waters SC CO2 machine has the option of adding a CO-Solvent pump for EtOh. I will explore if I can rinse my biomass first with ethanol then conitnue with Co2.

All the best and appreciate learning from you.

How is post processing with CO2?

what equipment you use for CO2 and Ethanol extraction?

See: SFC

sorry, i misunderstood, i was trying to ask what brand in the market allows CO2/Ethanol extraction

Ok. But you asked how to post processes with CO2…

Even Apeks has CO2 expanded ethanol these days.

Some would say they are rather late to the game.

We respond to our client needs and feedback to prioritize product development in response to the market demand. You could say we are “late to the game”, however we have been manufacturing co2 systems for over 15 years as Apeks and Andy has been making them for about 20. We constantly strive to refine our products based on client feedback. There are other large players that still have non-cosolvent injection that are working on getting theirs to market as well. One rather larger co2 manufacturer from Canada is one of those in the same boat…As a small family owned business up until late 2019 we simply did not have the same resources to perform R&D that we currently do now. We have joined with Delta Separations and are now the same company. There are lots of new developments and refinements in the works…stay tuned.

With luck that will cut down on the number of CO2 extractors who claim ethanol is the devil yet still winterize (with ethanol) post extraction…
Pure CBG – Cannabigerol Extract Powder Isolate extraction education

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Agreed, I think we were already there but I agree, we are in a much better position to offer unbiased solutions based on client needs.

Even Thar uses ethanol to winterize & remediate (as of sept '19). But solely uses co2 on the extraction to claim an ‘organic’ extraction process.

so not chemists :thinking:

We always quote full turnkey packages that include winterization. We are selling the whole process not just our extractors. It is always a process and end product goal driven conversation with our team. We can’t really sell winterization equipment without a discussion about winterization…

@ApeksNate ? Was that meant for someone else?