Do large scale Ethanol Extractors use copper condensers or just stainless steel?

[cyclopath]

your still builder does understand the thermal transfer properties of those two metals.

having decided that you’d prefer stainless, the trick is then to change some of the other variables in the equation. eg the ΔT , heat exchanger surface area, or flow rate.

@TheGratefulPhil was kind enough to work some of that math

Optimizing Processes with Engineering Fundamentals

Hi Everyone, Given the vast permutations of processes that exist so far in this industry and the relative infancy of our empirical understanding of them, I feel like an engineering perspective could really cut through the fat and allow individuals to make more effective and appropriate decisions when it comes to making process decisions. For example, I want to buy a condenser for solvent recovery. I want the unit to be able to recover 100 gallons / hour of ethanol (or hexane, or whatever)…what…

edit: and thanks for bringing this up. I was aware that copper was more efficient, but was unaware of the magnitude of the difference. check the tiny condensers on the first still I built.

Bulk crude

You can extract 15lbs of biomass in a $25 used beer keg using 15gal of ethanol. Possibly 3x to 5x that depending on potency. You can get 80-85% of your solvent back if doing single pass & drip dry. Maybe 50% with 3 passes over fresh biomass. You will need a still to keep up with that. you can pick up a bain-marie style still for a couple of grand, or make one out of another keg for less than $200. Edit: Meet my first production still. Her name is RSOsie. Second pic is of the parts I ass…