Run ethanol in a slightly modified closed loop?

Not sure how low I’d have to set the valve for this ? I Think I’m gonna try the double tank method just so I know I’m not sucking up any alcohol fumes in my vac pump

Thanks ! I thought it sounds like there may be hazards involved I was unaware of

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Cold trap! Use a cold trap or a resin trap.

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A crazy idea you could do is get one of those dry ice sleeve dephlegmators and a jacketed tank and you could just push your ethanol by means of distillation and have cold ethanol flood the dephlegmator into the top of the column…though no idea how well that would work…

Oh wow… Distilling the etoh into a column with material . Imagine distillation systems to rise the amount of ethanol vapors and using like huge condensers to move the cold ethanol into a column or by means of vacuum… :joy::joy::joy::thinking: I like it but it seems so overkill and not needed. I guess with a molsieve it makes sense cause you’re reproofing… Still though

I wonder if having the initial extraction tube jacketed and then heating the column and having like a two or three way design where afterwards you can heat your material tube and see if you can distill out any left of etoh out of your material column and have it drain into a tank or distill into a tank.

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I dmed you a double collection pot idea not a double tank idea.

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Just use a “pump” up for the task.

It’s it quotes because a water aspirator will get the job done for $20 and some water.

You could also use a diaphragm pump. Or a explosion proof recovery pump like a CMEP, Haskel, or CPS trs-21 capable of pulling a decent vacuum.

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Swapping the solvent in your CLS is about adjusting pressures, and temperatures.

If you can’t wrap your head around using ethanol in the machine safely, I’d tend to question your understanding of the problem in general, because it’s conceptually the same process.

Chill solvent, flow over biomass, collect, evaporate solvent off product, condense solvent so you can go again.

Butane in a CLS without a license is a felony here in OR, ethanol is just fine.

Edit: is it the best way to use the machine? no. Best way to extract with ethanol? Also No. but it’s a decent way to use one safely at home…

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I gave op the idea to use a bi-di flow adapter and to bottom fill and then vacuum it through an npt style crc into the collection and to use a cold trap…

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Did you suggest putting anything IN the CRC?

Sucking ethanol through any sort of filter bed tends to evaporate it on the spot (in your media) rather than pull it through (see folks doing it all the time with hydrocarbons too), it’s often more effective to blow on it. Both diaphragm pumps & most hydrocarbon rated recovery pumps will push as well as pull. I use them with the input open to atmosphere to pressure test vessels…

Do NOT use them with any hydrocarbon lighter than heptane with either port open to atmosphere. Even then…

Using ethanol, and your solvent tank as the cold trap, you could use any as a vacuum source, with the outlet open to waste/atmosphere.

A water aspirator would be safer.

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He just said crc and I said here’s where I would put it😅

@44northorganicfarms Those two have some good advice on what filter media to use.

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Two dip tubes on the tank and you push etoh with a diaphragm pump… maybe

the only problem is it won’t work with etoh, non polar hydrocarbons give the best results for color removal.

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It could work with a polar solvent if the filter media’s are measured out right and he uses the right filter media’s in the right order. … Though you’re correct the best result for any kind of crc is from non-polar. I’m guessing he could still hit a good yellow using etoh and a filter stack with filter media, though hitting clear would probably have to be non-polar solvent with a crc.

If one person doesn’t have a working rotovap or falling film, could one use a CLS to recover ethanol if I used a Welch 3.2cfm pump on the tank to keep a vac on the system?

I have 55 gallon worth of winterized crude they are going to let me finish up and distill as a severance pay… I just need to be able to get it ready to distill. The oil has been winterized already. Just need to reclaim ethanol.

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Sound like a Soxhlet to me…

@Boomtownpharms It’s possible to condense ethanol vapor in a dewaxing chamber or any chilled column but it might not efficiently recover a whole lot of your solvent depending on vapor path. Distillation is just heating until vapor is produced and condensing the vapor using cold temps; it can be performed in a variety of different setups and fashions.

I’ve run ethanol in several closed loops, it’s quite easy, cheap, and effective when you don’t have a centrifuge. I would still use a roto/reactor or FFE to recover the solvent though.

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You got coils? tube in shell?

A dewax column makes a lousy condenser, but an injection or condenser coil will work. As will a tube & shell or flat plate style HX.

Assuming a recovery pump, you could suck on the vapor port of your chilled solvent tank. With a coil between that and your collection.

You’ll want to run your collection a little warmer. Depends how hard your pump is able to suck.

You could route the vapor through your pump, but then you get pump wash in your crude.

Hit me up in DM if you get stuck…

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Absolutely

@Boomtownpharms doesn’t have one.

Purchasing one to process 55gal doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Maybe you haven’t seen his plumbing skills?

———
I call this one the Retro-vap.

Using a cold trap with an added spool as an evaporator (heated bath on other side of door).

Blowing solvent off to atmosphere with the aid of a TRS-21. Because I didn’t have a crockpot on hand…

Because: instrumentation!

admittedly I did cobble together a rotovap for the next (and subsequent) batches. this was merely an exercise in “solve it with what you got!”…and these were kicking around under my desk.

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There’s a commercial solution for this: