I have a 8lb material column that is 6x48 so it can hold 22-23lb of butane at 80% full. My collection column is 8x48 so it can hold 41lb of butane at 80% full. If I wanted to run my system at a 5:1 solvent to material ratio that would mean I would use 40lbs of butane total.
With all that said I am confused on how I am supposed to fill my material column with the 5:1 ratio if it can only hold 22lbs of butane. Would I have to flood my material column twice and then pull it to my collection pot twice?
Yea, you can work the extraction in stages, or use a “working column(s)”, a CRC, and the collection pot. You can also recover and resume if needed.
If you size your vessels appropriately it should be no issue. You can only fit x amount in your column but you can fit much more presumably in your collection vessel. So assuming your running 8 lbs of biomass you would flush 40 lbs of solvent over the material, possibly pausing for a soak depending on your SOP. The Solvent would then flow through the extraction column into the much larger recovery vessel at whatever ratio you’re pursuing.