Do you Rotovap prior to Reactor or ?
I think with the reactor that also evaps ethanol. Youre at 300 degrees for 2 hours pulling vacuum. I assume that is high enough to evap etoh.
If anyone out there can correct me please do. Its just a guess.
Yea, i roto up to 70c since im using water in the bath and then i go into the reactor up to 150c on the crude. This pulls out residual alcohol and terpenes you would get out in your heads fraction.
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How long does it typically take to do your decarb runs in your forced air oven?
Here is a COA of CO2 oil that I have to process for a client. What do you all think? No THCA content but about 6% CDBA. I’ll be feeding this into a WFE and want to make sure that we have consistency across the board. Would any of you guys further decarb the oil before adding to distillation with only 6% CBDA?
Also what kind of reactors are people using? Im about to opt for a 20L A.I. reactor, or would anyone go with a 50L?
EVPTGLG.pdf (207.4 KB)
I take it you’re tolling for them correct? If so and they are handing you crude that isn’t fully decarbed I wouldn’t do it for free. Have you had a conversation with them about it? If they don’t care about it then no biggie. If they do care then charge them for the extra work.
I run a B/R SBD rig though so I can decarb during the volatiles distillation phase vs. a separate step. It gives me the latitude to pick up a lot of clean up work like this without extra effort.
Correct, Im tolling and charging per gram of output. I have already discussed with the client that further processing on the crude would need to be entertained. They don’t care either way but I’ll push for additional decarb just for quality sake.
While we’re on the subject I’m charging per gram output, and $0.15 for additional decarb and cleanup. Would you guys say that this a fair rate? I’ve heard of labs charging for INPUT per gram into the systems instead of OUTPUT?
Heres a free Decarb SOP Gemstone Decarboxylation SOP
For those interested I am building out decarb reactors, Shoot me a message and I can give you some more info. 50-160L capacity, will eliminate the need for a second pass on wiped films or SPD.
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Hey @Psilisophical, we are currently waiting on our WFE and FFE to come in this week and have a few questions pertaining decarboxylation. Can you DM me? I’m new on here
If your goal is scalability, a continuous process run 24/7 is more capital efficient than a batch process.
Could you do this in a multi tube, falling film operation?
In a process complex, most everything is heated with steam or direct fired.
I use canola oil which is good to 200+C and dirt cheap.
When I decarbed in the roto it turned to glass and wouldn’t come out, had to redissolve. What did I do wrong?
1-2hr
How much did you let it cool down? I wouldn’t describe room temp crude as “glass” under the process we use but it certainly is more resistant to flow at ambient temps than it is at 65-70C, where it flows similarly to 30wt motor oil
I let mine cool to about 100c and then pour from the roto after decarb
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Lol I grab my heat resistant gloves and pour that shit right away. I usually end up with 15g left in a 5L flask
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I was just using water-bath, it was steaming away at around 90. Waited til it mostly stopped bubbling, turned off and must’ve let cool too long. I must’ve taken all the terps out. 90C and water aspirator as low as would go. After that, I’ve been keeping it no warmer than 40 when roto ing and pouring it with a little solvent still in and finish/decarb on hotplate. I haven’t done a large amount yet, would it work well in a conventional oven with a little fan inside and the door cracked?
Yeah decarb works just fine in an oven. Just make sure your decarb container is about 2.5x bigger then the volume your trying to decarb. Alternatively u can fill your roto bath with avocado oil or canola oil for cheap, or buy some of the expensive thermal fluid
If your doing it In the oven, I usually did 250F for 50 min to fully decarb
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Oh, so you make a hot bath with a pan of thermal fluid in the oven?
If I don’t do thermal fluid, is the fan/convection necessary, not sure if it would needs ventilation or just leave the door closed.
I learned the hard way already about overfilling the jars
The oil is supposed to go in the roto bath. The oven will work just the same as anything else, just put it in pyrex or something, u dont need an oil bath in your oven
You can burp the oven a couple times but u dont need constant air circulation (I never worried about it).
In the beginning I would do 30 min and check every 5 minutes for the bubbles to seize. I guess by checking every 5 min, I was burping it
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Cool, thanks you through me off with this:
, or buy some of the expensive thermal fluid
If your doing it In the oven
Nevermind, I know what you mean