I never found any benefit to a second pass other than getting near water clear consistency. The potency didn’t change at all though. We tried multiple experiments with that and always had the same results.
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Do you mind sharing (if possible) what temperature and pressure your co2 extraction process is set to?
My general feeling is a second pass is a waste of time.
I have also distilled as slow as 110 grams/hr and as fast as 320 grams/hr and haven’t seen much change in concentration.
Yeah I think the lower distillation rate gives you a clearer product with a little less color but not much more. When we were still doing CO2 we typically decarbed first then ran at 1800 psi and 95F for roughly 1.5 hrs per pound. We tried 2 hrs per pound for a while but didn’t see appreciable increases in cannabinoids that justified the extra wax and other undesirables that came with it.
Interesting, what promoted you guys to switch from CO2 (I’m assuming you guys went to ethanol)?. Honestly a year in I’m not too impressed with CO2 - from the cost of equipment, to crude yields containing up to 30% waxes, long winterization process, it’s kind of a drag.
Thank you sir. That’s something I can definitely consider. In your experience, have you observed any significant quantities of phospholipids in high pressure CO2 extractions?
Absolutely. I would also see a stringy/gummy layer between terps and water during dehydration…so the co2 extraction is also pulling dna protein and probably carbohydrates as well. The lipid content was always pretty massive when running bulk crude on co2.
IMO, unless you take great care and run great material, co2 blows for high flow production.
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Yea the more I am working with CO2 the less I am liking it. The problem is the holding company I am associated with loves CO2 and has no plans to move away from it.
Do you have any insight with regard to what pressure/temperature super critical co2 starts to increase in polarity?
What in your experience is a more viable extraction method to CO2 (omitting butane/propane C1D1 type setups)
Thanks for the response!
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Yeah we switched to ethanol because we migrated from the licensed cannabis industry over to industrial hemp where we’re doing bulk processing. CO2 simply doesn’t cut it when you’re trying to process thousands of pounds of biomass.
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I paid as little attention to the co2 extraction parameters as possible…to busy scaling up distillation at that facility.
Its pretty much just hydrocarbon(CNG) or ethanol. If you are going straight to distillate then ethanol is a great choice and can be purchased in ‘tax paid’ aka food grade form. There are still flammability concerns but nothing c1d1 level if you have ventilation.
If your parent company both locks you into co2 AND bitches about potency they can get fucked…respectfully.
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I agree sir. They whine that ethanol just doesn’t have the end-to-end yields, the cost of chilling ethanol is too high, need too many rotovaps, gripe gripe gripe. I am actually a big fan of ethanol, the chemist in me much prefers to work with liquid solvents over gasses.
Not having the whole dewax step is a huge benefit. Plus, how can anyone truly call CO2 solventless when you end up adding ethanol for winterization anyways?
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Yeah and unless you keep ALL your co2, that greenhouse gas is going somewhere.
“Oh…you want some motherfuckin extraction efficiency!!!”
grabs barrel of heptane
“Prepare my table top Buchner…we’re going plaid”
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I have always gotten lower yields/potency running co2 oil (in a short path I don’t have a br). Co2 always seem to have a lower thc content to begin with. It’s been along time since I’ve ran co2 but even backnin the day with the wipes films and just a dewax it alway yield and had less potency than just regular old boho crude. I’m sure there are a lot more options for co2 so I could be completely wrong. Just my take on it
Buy a chem tech
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I’m gonna give you a “Known SPD Hater” flair
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you guys rock!
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what’s the big deal with distilling anyways it’s good for edibles and cartridges, but good product = good product… destroy the terps and get 99% but what’s 8% the trick is… good product, it’s hard to look into distillate because I keep seeing 90% as being the big # and this was a trim shatter run…
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Interesting thing about that is, CO2 is reclaimed from processes that create it as a natural byproduct anyway. So, technically, it’s a net zero impact on the atmosphere, we were going to make it regardless.
I may be very mistaken, but I am under the impression most CO2 is sourced from companies that would have been polluting with that emission.
Unless you are sequestering or completely recapturing your used CO2, you are giving those companies a pass and polluting for them instead.
Please enlighten me if that is incorrect!
From what I understand, we (humans) have loads of different processes that generate CO2. Granted, lots of these processes are terrible and pollute the air, we aren’t generating CO2 just for the sake of extractions.
So, all I really meant is, any CO2 lost during an extraction isn’t any type of “extra impact” on the atmosphere.
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I know this is an old post - but I just started on the BR system. I’m getting 100ml/hr rate and coming in mid 80’s. I run my heads to a slow drip at 180 (oil temp) and then creep it to 195. Once at 195, I switch out collection flask for the mains. I’ll take this cut up to 200. Condenser is set to 60 while collecting the main cut. I’ve turned up the temp to distill faster but it seems to come out darker. Any suggestions on my parameters to get closer to your results in distillation yield rate and potency? I appreciate any help / suggestions.