Hey guys!
I’m excited to be at a point where I can upgrade the lab. I started out blasting pounds through one of @Killa12345 's bad ass columns. But lately I don’t even have time for that and have been handing off my material to be toll processed for a 50/50 split.
I’d really like to not have to do that anymore, so I’m putting my project out for your guys input, since I have no idea what my options are for the scale I’m trying to achieve.
Here’s what my goals are;
Would like to process up to 100lbs in a day - I’m guessing that’s a etho wash type thing at this point?
Be able to winterize in line if possible - is that a LN2 setup?
Be able to recover as much etho as possible within a day or so
Then I can do my normal thing and distill over the next couple days. I have a 2L wide bore kit now, will be upgrading to a 5L as well - possible run 1st pass on the 5L and 2nd pass on the 2L.
What I really need guidance on is the extraction part of things. 1st of all I’ve always had crap luck and low yeilds with ethanol so I’m nervous. 2nd of all I really have no idea how I would wash that much material, is that what the centrifuge things are for?
The mechanical aspect of things is easy for me, I just haven’t had the exposure to quite wrap my head around this all the way.
I know I’m asking for the spoon lol, but I want to do this right the first time
Thanks guys!
Ken
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Well I thought $20k was a good budget, but maybe I underestimated. Was just looking online at centrifuges and I shat a brick. I have some overseas people I can reach out to for better pricing maybe.
You’re going to be looking at spending a pretty penny. If you’re trying to run 100lbs a day you could go hydrocarbon with a bigger machine from Precision, Iron Fist, or Luna. All of which make units capable of 80+lbs per run from what I understand and that way you can make good live resin or crude. It sounds like you just want to make distillate though? (Correct me if im wrong). For ethanol you would need a Centrifuge, you could go relatively small if you only wanted to do 100lbs a day and grab a 20lb Centrifuge. Still if you are doing 100lbs a day you need 5 20L rotovaps probably or a small Falling film evaporator capable of maybe 20 gallons per hour. Then you will need something capable of winterization in line, a big cryo freezer, or mess around with the room temp winterization tek everyone is trying with methanol and water. Then you still need to filter all that with a bigger filter table setup. Then a vessel to decarb everything (we use a converted jacketed cold reactor). That would be the way to go but you’re looking at 250k+ in extraction and ancillary equipment.
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BVV now sells centrifuges, they have a 15 lb one for 17k and a 150lb one for 37k. May be able to get that output but can’t speak for their quality as they are not exactly known for that
Pretty sure you can get wholesale rates on their stuff too, saw someone post on here about that at one point
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Thanks guys for the input! I really thought I could put something together for $20k. I’ll take a look and see what BVV has for sure. I also follow Lanphan and know they do a lot of metal work. Maybe I could design something and have them make it for some sort of cost savings. I’ve had good luck with David from China on here and his glass work.
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And I am mainly looking to make distillate, not as interested in bho for this project.
I can help u process 100lbs a day but not per day, on a 20k budget, ur solvent recovery is gonna take up majority of ur budget though. If u want to do per day, Youll need to drop 20k on just the solvent recovery part.
Im doing 100lbs a day, usually 2 extractions a week. And i end up with a clean pale yellow disty in about 2 weeks. (I only work 3 days a week in the lab)
Fuck lanphan
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its not solvent costs, u can make alcohol pretty cheap. Its the recovery that costs
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Ok well you definitely have my attention, where would you recommend I get started?
Say I wanted to replicate your process?
ask killa for the “tetraguy” package.
Get some kegs from tcw equipment.
Read and follow the FFE diy thread.
Get a pallet of sugar from costco and 500 gallon cheap tank.
Get a 5L/20L roto.
Get a -20 chiller circulator.
Get like 4 pandas and lots of micron poly felt.
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Have you read the bucket tek thread a couple of times?
Read up on panda’s?
Done any small scale qwets?
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Couple questions:
What is your environment? Can you run a panda or are you subject to strict regulations?
What kind of ventilation/safety measures do you have for your place of extraction?
Do you have solvent limitations? (R.T. methanol winterization could save you a lot of capital investment).
What equipment do you have other than your CLS and 2L SPD?
Does your budget include the 5L SPD you’re planning on and are you dead set on distillate? That’d take a good chunk of your budget right there.
How are your fabrication/DIY skills? Is it worth your time to build contraptions or are you looking for straight buy & assemble stuff?
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I have gone through the bucket tek thread, the extraction process isn’t new to me by any means.
I’ve done lots of ethanol soaks and recoveries and I’ve rigged up small diy systems plenty of times. I’m at the point though where I want to do it right the first time and not have to fiddle with crap. Sometimes I find the DIY method takes more time and wastes more money than forking up the cash up front.
I have read up on pandas, and a buddy of mine bought 4 of them to try and take over extracting for me doing bucket tek and pandas and couldn’t keep up. The pandas also kept overheating the crude.
I’d rather not run a panda and go with a rotovap or ffe or something.
I’ll be building the room to spec, so ventilation and safety will be all strictly controlled by me.
No solvent limitations, I’ll be distilling the end product regardless. Methanol sounds interesting…
No other equipment - I need everything for this project.
Not part of the budget, I already have the 5L spd kit being produced to my specs.
What do you mean by am I dead set in distillate?
I’m actually a great DIY’r, that’s how I got to the point I’m at by fabricating pretty much everything until I bought my first CLS.
If it’s a good solid build I’m down to implement it, especially if it saves me some cash.
I just want a nice solid and safe system.
Panda is not a substitute for a rotovap or FFE. Nor should it add significant heat.
There are certainly folks here pushing 100lb/day through a panda & buckets
Can you run us through what your buddy was doing?
@Demontrich, tell us how it’s done.
@DriftlessOil, have you sold your setup?
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What would you like to know?
Thuroughput of washed material?
Edit
A panda does nothing more than solvent recovery from biomass.
It shouldnt heat up. But it does have a motor, this creates friction. Friction = heat.
My cryo dragon never overheated. Or heated the biomass up
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Honestly I’m not exactly sure what he was doing, I just know he reported a bunch of issues. That being said I can’t say whether his skillset was up to where I would consider mine.
I’m not saying I’m opposed to other methods at all. I’m always willing to be shown a better (cheaper) path. That’ll save more money for trim 
Please be careful with the Chinese centrifuges folks. They have been the cause of a few fires according to some industry folks I know. 1 for sure in Washington that caused an investigation into the equipment and sellers.
Our centrifuges aren’t cheap (neither are lambos 
) but I have seen LOTS of used deltas around for not that expensive.
Please do yourself a favor and save money on less essential equipment. Buy a spd instead of a wiper, buy a roto instead of a FFE but for the love of god get a safely made centrifuge.
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fair enough!