We have been seeing consistently low yields on our BHO runs. Around 14-18g’s returned from 448g starting material. Bud runs, trim runs, dry, fresh frozen all yield similar but disappointing results.
We are running a 710snob 1lb passive closed loop extractor. 1 ball valve on top of the column and 1 on the collection pot.
Modification from stock: inline sight glass.
We are running iso butane.
Chill collection pot in DI and iso alcohol bath.
Pack material column(we have tried hard pack, light pack, broken up buds and finely ground, trim etc).
2 a. If dewaxing, the column is placed in the DI cooler.
Attach material column to base.
3a. If dewaxing, load column with dry ice and iso alcohol.
Pull vacuum on extractor.
Blow line out with butane before tightening.
Open top valve and begin extraction.
When desired amount of butane in column, close top ball value.
Transfer collection pot into 100f water bath.
Recovery tank is placed into iso/di slurry.
Begin recovery if butane.
We have tried running 3-8lbs of butane through material with no real change in yield quantity to speak of.
We have opened the system with anywhere between a half pound of butane and 1.5 pounds of butane remaining and pour into a Pyrex dish.
We will let the butane evap for awhile on a 90 pad and then jar or pour.
We have tried slowly opening the bv on the butane pour as well as opening all the way. Doesn’t seem to matter.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!
Try a soak on material. I usually run a 10:1 solvent to material ratio and slowly let it into material column until almost full n let sit 5-10 min then open my ball valve on bottom to release imto collection and i repeat this step until all butane has ran through. Then recover to your preference
I never ran a passive cls but I can run an active with virtually no psi. Im not sure if this applicable but ill point out some things i see wrong.
One get a bottom feeder under your column. I also recommend a bi directional if you can afford it.
Two: Pull vacuum first than apply dry ice n iso to your sleeve.
Tip-Keep the vacuum running while your dewaxing. Just in case any water moisture is still in the biomass its a better chance for it to get vacuum out. ALso i never frozen my material before hand. IMO thats what a dewaxing coulmn is for. I Ran a 7.5lb system and took me typically an hour to freeze down. Make sure your monitoring the sleeve for as much as it can provide without overflowing. ALso put your ISO in the freezer a day before. THis will help with no crazy reactions in the sleeve with dry ice.
Three- Dont ever let the solvent stand still in the column. . Constant flow. THere is no wait time. Let it flow and release. The longer it sits the more unwanted crap you will get. FOr bottom feed I couldn’t keep my sleeve chilled long enough for a second pull so instead i bottom fed and let it push from the top to my collection pot. Ill let it fill that way. about 1/3 of collection pot closed top valve 1/4 and released the bottom instantly. Once flow is pouring from the bottom valve ill turn the hot water on for my shatter platter. This is about 1/2 way. After another minute i waited till my flow slowed down and turned my pump on to get that suction and opened my top valve wide open… If i added to much than i would close the bottom and open the top. Ill pour once i had room.
Get a coil heat exchanger before the feed into the column. Colder the better but remember smooth and steady. That means NO rapidly opening recovery tank valve. slow/steadily and open to maintain the same pace constant flow.
another tip is when you’re done recovering your run, do another wash and see if anything else comes back. This will help you determine if your first pass is efficient enough at pickup up everything in the biomass. I’ve been doing this and then tweaking my packing, flood process and I’ve gotten my first pass yielding a lot more, and much less on the second pass.
I never used to do this, however I do find it very helpful in telling the story as to how you did on the first pass.
dm