If it hasn’t been discussed yet, I think it’s important to know what the particle sizes are of the media being used during filtration/separation through a CLS using butane/propane.
I’m inquiring to see if @Shadownaught can educate us to make sure we aren’t pulling our collection bowl with 100g of extract and 20g of T5/ Silica/Magsil mixed with it.
Can you share some information on particle size to make sure it’s being filtered out at the end of a run?
the medias that we use are INSOLUBLE. So, what does that mean? If you get media to blow by your filter, or you don’t even have a fine filter, then there is still hope for you. In wine making, people add various fining agents to their crude wine solution with the intent of clarifying the wine. Then they let the barrel settle, leaving all the powders and gunk at the bottom of the barrel. (maybe that’s where that saying comes from).
If you need help figuring out this technique let me know. I’m getting tired of seeing everyone not being able to think outside of the box.
I’ve had really good success testing b80 using only the 3 micron slow quantitative filter paper. I did a few dry runs with no material to make sure that media was not passing. The first time I failed. The second time was a success. I highly suggest doing a dry run with no material before attempting with material. So that you are absolutely sure there isn’t any fine particles making it past. It’s very easy to blow clay into the collection bowl. I had 3 sets of the 3um slow paper in my CRC and only the 3rd didn’t catch anything and that was without blow outs.
5 micron with a Celite or DE bed should catch all your carbon or other media’s. If your concerned get a 500 pack of sub micron filters to place over a 20 micron filter plate to see if you catch anything at all. Nothing will make it through the sub micron paper and the larger micron filter plate allows very fast flow. This is the last step in my carbon scrubbing SOP that’s scalable to a very large amount
Let your partially filtered solution settle in a collection tank for 10-30 min at cold temperatures (no heat on collection, no chiller either… butane in liquid form is naturally cold enough. ) you will notice that the solution will go from cloudy to crystal clear. at this point you can do a few different techniques. If you are in a regulated environment, you have to keep your process in the closed loop. In a closed loop, I would siphon the solution with a “dip tube” that almost reaches the bottom, but not quite. maybe 1 inch from tthe bottom is good. Use the dip tube to suck your solution into a clean collection pot. you can even push the solution through a clean filter paper first to be sure nothing comes across.
If you don’t have the equipment for this, and you are not in a regulated place, and IF you have good ventilation, you can vac your tank with a recovery pump or offf gas the collection tank to 0 psi with a large amount of liquid solvent still in solution. Then let your solution settle for 10-30 min and then pour into a large clean measuring cup or jar. I like the 2 Liter pyrex measuring cup bc of the pour spout. Let your solution settle again and then pour into another clean jar/ measuring cup. Repeat these steps until the solution contains no sediment at the bottom