Small Gas Chromatography unit SRI?

Yeah you can definitely get some terpene data on the same injection as cannabinoids if you’re willing to wait 20 or 25min

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Looks like I sold off some of my old embroidery and business gear. This new unit sure is looking good to me. I have no interest in profiling terps or pesticides or any of that stuff but really just would like to quantify my own runs for D9 THC. This thread really gave me insight about these things and while it is nice to drive a Cadillac the truth is I cannot afford it. I keep looking in the bottom of my Cracker Jacks box but all I see is a candy…

I like new stuff though. Things like this and like my vacuum pump can be had on the cheap for sure if willing to do some clean up and slight refurbish but with new the tech support can dial in on process and procedure rather than trying to help run out issues with a used unit. Besides, look at all the free info here! Lolz I gotta be honest, right? I have made friends online here and if a man cannot exploit his friends then who can he exploit?

I better log now. There is a ruby hiding in this mountain of rock I been meaning to look for and better get to it… Two out of three ain’t bad.

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Here is what sri sent me about the model 410 of the OP.

“Please find your requested quotation attached herein as a .pdf file. The model 310 provides a laboratory grade analysis. The model 420 provides a quick (non-lab grade) approximation of THC and CBD values. It cannot separate or measure any other cannabinoid. It cannot be modified or upgraded in the future to perform other analyses. It is a purpose built THC and CBD measuring device for on the fly measurements at grow-ops and collectives. If it interests you, it is available for $4,995.00, plus $110.00 shipping. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this information.”

It will not meet my needs as I want to characterize cannabinoids too if possible.

That’s a shame that 310 probably isn’t cheap. Are you giving up on the GC?

For now I am shelving the idea. The sale of my embroidery machine was to finance this machine and the 310 is listed at ten grand. More than I have now. My medical future is such that saving long term is not an issue so I am in a position life wise to splurge my assets on stuff that interests me. I get my own pay from being a veteran who got hurt severely in service and now am compensated at full disability from SSDI as well as veterans benefits.

So my medical needs are met as are my living expenses. In fact the veterans affairs are sending a lady Wednesday for an in home evaluation and they already approved paying for a maid to help clean up around the house and such. Nice huh? The GC was purely to further a hobby but the 310 is just a bit much for this plus it also performs much I do not care about as configured standard for medical marijuanna.

It might be fun to get that kind of analysis power but too I enjoy posting stuff. If I start posting stuff about GC then for sure the folks who live to critisize will find fuel to do so because there are so many out there now who know GC and in the past I posted a total of two posts regarding spectrophotometer results and got back nothing but grief for doing it. I ceased posting altogether for a long time after that - bruised ego. It is better to just post the country-boy-makes-good style of videos and refine on a kitchen table and video it than step it up with deep analysis which will certainly be ridiculed. I really wanted to profile cannabinoids over time to see just how they are degrading to red anyway and others must have certainly already have done that.

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I’d appreciate some advice from people smarter than me on this one - I’m looking to do some validation on extraction efficiencies for an R&D unit, and have three main options on the table I’m considering. The only thing I really care about is potency for this unit, though terpenes or residual solvents would be a bonus for future projects.

High precision (repeatability) is more important to me for this unit than high accuracy. I’m not too worried if the actual potency is 10% but it outputs 9%, so long as it consistently outputs 9%. High accuracy along with high precision would be great, but I know that’s super unlikely with a sub-10k unit.

Here are the options currently under consideration:

  1. The SRI “420” GC, maybe with a 15m column swapped in place of the stock 2m one. Total cost likely $6k ish?

  2. SRI 310-MM GC - comes with heated injection port, columns for potency/terpene and residual solvent measurements. $10k from the factory.

  3. Used ebay-special 8610C - maybe 4-8k ish as a guess depending on options available and upgrades required.

Would upgrading the column on the 420 model increase the precision or accuracy or both of this unit?
Are the heated injection port, double columns, and other upgrades worth the extra $5k for the 310-MM unit?
I’ve got no problem with doing a little manual fiddling/hacking with a used 8610C if that’s the best option.

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if you want to put it in the overhead bin, the 420 is your best bet.

if you’re setting up semi-permanently, I’d go with a 8610C off ebay.

this one would work.

https://www.ebay.com/i/382628743457

it has the fid, but not the heated injector.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cannabis-Potency-Wax-Solvent-Testing-SRI-Gas-Chromatography-GC-Free-Ship/223236707337 seems like it might be worth $15k maybe. certainly not $42k!!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SRI-Instruments-8610C-Gas-Chromatograph-NICE/273548114716 would also get the job done, although in that condition I’d offer them $2k (looks like an H2 leak :wink: )

Edit: “semi-permanent” was deliberate. the 8610C travels well, and comes from SRI with a plastic tote for that purpose. I’ve moved the one I use 8 or 9 times over the last 5 years. It’s just not something I’d want to lug on plane…

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It turns out it’s cheaper to have my R&D machine shipped here than it is for me to fly there for the R&D work (yay Canada airline prices!), so I’m (currently) looking for a semi-permanent installation.

That first one of the ebay ones is one I was already eyeballing, looks like a decent unit for my needs I think.

From my limited knowledge of GC’s, it seems reasonably complete, the only thing I would likely have to get is an appropriate column - probably the 15m MXT-restek one - and a hydrogen tank or generator?

Is the heated injector a worthwhile/necessary upgrade? Is there anything else I should be looking at adding/upgrading at the same time?

the heated injector will definitely get you better peak shape and resolution for cannabinoids. last time I talked to Hugh the were installing it on their older “cannabis” machines for only $1000 (think it was usually $2k). On a $3k GC, I would absolutely go for it. even if it was $3k as part of a refurb by SRI (they do that too!).

it is also missing the “sample oven” that ships of the cannabis specific models, so a 50C water bath with a rack that holds your 40ml vials will also be required.

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The $42k option is for 2x machines not just 1, but still looks to be overpriced a bit…dude is looking for retail for used equipment. might be worth talking to dude and seeing if he will split it up though

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Looks like the sample incubator/oven is a $1500 option from SRI… $100 water bath it is.

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indeed. I missed that.

makes an offer of $15k for one seem more reasonable :wink:

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Someone snagged the CDC used machine on eBay I was eying… Dual fids and an even with on board air ugh…

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Oh well I wasn’t ready to venture into this just yet lol but still I was hoping it sat on eBay for a month or two so I could low ball them!

nope. not with this place getting the traffic it does… :wink:

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Ya it was easy enough to find with pics I posted but I purposely didn’t post a link lol. Didn’t help though. It still needed a heated injector and different columns but Sri was talking me through the ability to test for sulphur based pesticides

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I am interested in this too and actively working on characterizing the degradation products seen in SPD. We don’t use SPD for production but I’d like to know more about the thermal stability of these molecules. I’m not sure a GC-FID will do it alone, unless we can come up with standards for these molecules. I would gladly help you interpret your results, but it isn’t obvious with just one instrument. A MS (mass spectrometer) unit attached would greatly help but they can be costly to maintain.

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I love the Agilent 6890. My prior chemistry company exclusively used these Agilent GC’s (all were refurbished). They were almost never down. We used hydrogen generators. I don’t recall the model. I’ve seen some for sale at decent prices at fire sales for pharma startups that have gone bust (Bay area). These are great opportunities to pick up instruments and accessories, some still under service warranties.

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Just give SRI a call weekly. They have used refurbished units for sale quite often. It may be a few $$ more than ebay or the like, but 8m sure buying direct would get you some free help.

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a little late here but my answer to variability was to get a scale accurate to .0001 milligrams. Love me some auctions :slight_smile:

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