Hello my newly found amazing friends! I have an opportunity to purchase either 200 proof Ethanol, or n-heptane for a price I am negotiating but should be fairly cheap. I am fairly new to using either of these solvents. I wanted to get some input from some of the more experienced people on here. If I could get some advice, I would greatly appreciate it guys. I am very excited to be able to use these and experiment with them. If you could give me some opinions or good papers to read about either of these on these subjects, I would be very grateful.
- Pros and Cons
- Price per gallon I should negotiate towards
- Processes I can use them
- If either of them are worth buying a couple gallons
- Anything you think is worth mentioning
- Any safety precautions I should take
I am going to be doing a bit more research myself over the night, but I am truly curious to see what the minds on here have to say. Thank you everyone!
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Also I have reason to believe the solvents have been sitting unused for some time. Is this something I should be concerned about? They have been sitting in sealed plastic drums
Fire safety is generally more of a concern with heptane due to poor charge dissipation and greater volatility (lower heat of vaporization). This frequently results in increased limitations from various regulatory bodies on heptane. If these are not concerns for you, heptane is pretty much a super extraction solvent in every regard other than how it extracts excess lipids/doesn’t dewax very well
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So if I were to go with the heptane I would be at great risk of dealing with fires. What is the best way to go about storing heptane to avoid this?
If you go with heptane you’re going to need ethanol or methanol to winterize anyway so you’d essentially be preapring for both or just ethanol.
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I’m not sure I’d say “great risk”, both solvents merit safe handling. Before I’d comment I guess I’d ask about what kind of scale/setting you’re in. We have hundreds of gallons of heptane on hand but we prepared for that. If you are in a garage, probably not a great idea to have that much on hand lol
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I only plan to pick up about 5 gallons of either, maybe less. Like I said this is mostly for experimentation and different chemical process outside of just Cannabis. More a fun tinker time tool. It wont be in a garage but kept in a semi-well vented room, possibly in a fridge or freezer if that proves to be the safest place
Well vented area away from pilot lights and positive ignition sources would be better than a freezer or refrigerator. They would/should be explosionproof if you would want to go that route.
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I’m not sure I’d recommend inside a fridge or freezer due to the direct ignition source (definite purpose contactor for the compressor) but honestly there’s little difference in safe handling practices with a couple gallons of heptane versus gasoline. The suitability of heptane as a solvent though is going to depend on what that other “not cannabis” process is
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OK, so the fridge is a no go. I had not consider that. Thank you both @NewLevelProcess @SidViscous . Is there any suggestions on different process I could use either of these solvents for? I was considering using the ethanol to keep my bho extractions super chilled in a dewaxing column, but I feel this is a wasteful use of some good ethanol
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5 gallons or less does not require working in a classified area!
trying to think of where that regulation is, but I know it to be true.
Heptane Pros: Extract at room temperature, color will likely be nicer, Division 2 liquid
Heptane Cons: will pull all your fats, requires solvent recovery followed by winterization in ethanol.
Ethanol Pros: no winterization if extraxted cold, good extraction efficiency
Ethanol Cons: you have to chill it, color will likely be worse unless done below -20ish Celsius
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Comparing apples to apples, -20 heptane will still give better color than -20 ethanol in my experience.
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Additional factors:
Heptane is substantially cheaper for most
Heptane is immiscible with water and actually stays very very dry (something like 12 ppm water)
Heptane recovers much faster and doesn’t for azeotropes with as many terpenes
Downsides:
Less acceptable to open boil because of said charge dissipation issue
As far as other processes: usually you want to do something and then pick a solvent for the process, not the other way round. What do you want to make?
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Do you get more wax with heptane at -20c as opposed to ethanol when you winterize?
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Yeah, you’ll definitely get more wax with heptane than with ethanol at the same temperature.
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Well I am well versed in bho extracts but never used either of these in cannabis and never used heptane at all. I was told it was all ethanol, but when I examined the barrels I realized there was also heptane which I know nothing about. So I came here while I work
You HAVE to winterize heptane extract.
My opinion is that one ought to extract at room temp with heptane and then dewax
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My advice, If you in a small place like me, store you solvents outside.
Always replace bottle tops on empty or full bottles.
Always mark whats in the bottle.
Dont have litres of solvents in different flasks doing differnet things.
Do one process at a time.
Make sure you have a fire extinguisher or a back up plan to get out of the building in case it does go tits up.
( have a swimming pool 15m from where i work )
Get smoke alarms and detectors.
Its hard to see pure solvents burning as they burn with almost no visible flame.
Keep your walk ways and work surfaces clear of clutter.
Dont put anything flammable between you and the door.
Treat everything the same way as butane you will be fine.
Best advice i can give you matey.
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Makes sense when comparing it to solvents of similar polarity. Is the color and terps better than -40C ethanol? Or is it about the same?
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