Thank you for stopping by. Long story short I work at a local hemp dispensary company that I get to make lovely products for (Including candy which is very fun). I want to learn more about the science and processes behind what we do. We currently purchase all of our distillate etc and that’s really what I am interested in. Im NOT a chemist by any means but its something Ive decided I want to learn a little about.
From what I understand at the moment is that I pretty much am stuck with a crude extraction (Which I have done with Ethanol). Its not a best color its pretty dark. My assumption is my wash was too long. The next step would be to use short path distillation? As far as I’m aware there’s pretty much no other option especially for a non commercial scale. As far as the process I think we put the crude extract into the flask and heat it to ~140c under vacuum to separate its contents?
I did find this wonderful post that gave me a lot of information but I still wanted to gather everyone’s opinions.
Now to run by some equipment options I really have no clue what to do for a vacuum pump. Someone mentioned these or these somewhere but I have no idea if they are strong enough/will pull enough to create the proper vacuum I need?
As far as the rest I see mostly things like this here. There’s also this but I don’t think this has what I need?
I obviously do not have a huge budget for this but am hoping to find a way to get it to work. I think there are a lot of lovely smart people around here to help me out as well.
Way too much going on here for a free . Your questions are not for SCIENCE but a thinly vailed attempt at starting a side hustle. For science, you can just read and learn and not buy the WRONG vacuum pump. Those pumps will burn your house down. You are far away from buying equipment, start with learning. That is all the free help I’ll give. Go pay a consultant, get a job in a lab, or do something constructive for the community if you want free advice.
The embedded links sprinkled throughout the thread?
There is a ton of information on molecular/short path distillation to be had here, but nobody is likely to hold your hand through finding it/integrating it unless you make it worth their while.
Right, also you can use other solvents - heptane good example - you can do LLE wash with water (Liquid-to-Liquid-Extraction), it will remove water soluble poo like chlorine.
Wintirization - when you cool this solution down to hella low -C. All fats start to “materialize” and can be decanted - or better off filtered. (0.22 Um micron). Then yeah ± next step after is distill
Not really, idk why would you think so. There are flasks and apparatuses that can be combined to form small, medium, and industrial scales.
If we talk small scale - well, i guess we talking about 1-100 G. - then yes. If we talk about like… 1-5 g, then yeah. Not best idea - since glassware would just eat some %, with big surface area (like doing 5G with 2L RXN flask or something like that)
I might be wrong about this one, but 140c is some sci-fi space-ship typo vacuum lvl. More realistic to see at 190c i guess.
One good advice i’ve heard is - just stay below 200-210c, if THC start to come at 210c+ MANTLE temp, means bad pump (mb old oil in good vacuum) or vacuum leak.
bruh, if i was a noob and saw this - i would rather be more confused.
Like here, lol
Dude does cannabis distillation process.
(only diff he uses crude oil from QWET, and not CBD to THC, but process is no difference 99% (only diff is that he also have heads like terpes))
Just watch this vid, good dude explains everything ±, and even give tips and details like - how to not clog your condenser.
(thats where THC start to condense from gas form into liquid
(via cooling))
good! Start learning the fundamentals and core science.
So start learning chemistry and maybe a college course? There are a couple small universities that offer degrees in Cannabis science/extraction now.
@bingus since you already work at a local hemp dispensary, have you considered applying for a position in the lab? Maybe another local producer is hiring entry level positions? Don’t start in your garage unless you’re willing to lose it, face potential legal consequences, or even die.
So go work for someone who has one. Don’t cut corners. You obviously don’t have the facilities to do this, nor the experience, nor the background. If your interested in science, go study science in school. Don’t try to learn dangerous habits from youtube.
I meant that like - that doesn’t look like “regular” SPD used for cannabinoids, that’s why i thought it’s might get someone confused, not a best photo for explanation when there are videos that i’ve sent above.
But it does explain main instruments used, and their naming, yes.
It looks pretty normal to me- just a different style of distillation. That paper @cyclopath linked has a lot of really good information on distillation, along with pictures of what you’d consider more “traditional” SPD used in Cannabis.
The more equipment you use, the more you realize there is no standard distillation method.
All these can distill, just a few examples of units I’ve seen in the wild distilling cannabinoids. (Note: a rotovap is an incredibly stupid way to distill, but it worked!)
Actually true - rotovap is also a distiller, huh. Never think about this - in this way, but yeah thats true.
But tho - big difference in when it’s used. (like not for THC itself)
OP asked for the SCIENCE: so first we define what the fuck “short path” or “molecular” distillation actually IS (again: thanks @Fungnificent). Anyone who can’t find YouTube how-to’s on the subject should probably just walk away (so far, I like the one you linked. Way better than the summit one many of us learned from).
if the goal is to grok distillation, recognizing a still is a key part of the process…but more importantly, a discussion on WhyTF and HowTF distillation under mean free path conditions was developed enables an understanding of the process that most how-to videos cannot (do not) convey.
WTF was used to get the bath to 210C? (making assumptions about the vacuum level obtainable with that rotary seal).
Seperate hot oil bath to heat. It was a bad idea. Cleanup was absolutely horrid. Flask changing was annoying. It produced half decent distillate. I used a heidolph hei-vap with vario diaphram pump.
My first THC distillation was with a Kugelrohr. That thing sucked, but it also worked. If you can distill cannabinoids with that POS, you can do it with anything.
. Your questions are not for SCIENCE but a thinly vailed attempt at starting a side hustle. For science, you can just read and learn and not buy the WRONG vacuum pump. Those pumps will burn your house down. You are far away from buying equipment, start with learning. That is all the free help I’ll give. Go pay a consultant, get a job in a lab, or do something constructive for the community if you want free advice.
)