Hello all, I work for a new company in North Carolina and I am trying to troubleshoot some of the issues we have been having with our delta separations RFD-27. We had the training course provided to us by Delta and are using their parameters to run the machine but it seems our terpenes and distillate have been coming out a dark color. I have attached the parameters, any help is appreciated! For the terp pass, the feed column is 100 C, the roller column is 130 C, and the condenser is 30 C. For the CBD pass, the feed column is 100 C, the roller column is 160 C, and the condenser is 95 C.
the first picture is CBD, the second is Terps.
You need to vacuum decarb before running any passes.
1 Like
I suppose I should have been more specific, before we use the RFD, we run it through a glass reactor to vacuum decarb. Which is what makes this even more cryptic!
Those temps seem low.
Id run atleast at 147 for the terp strip
Youre not getting the heavy heads out
1 Like
What’s your vacuum decarb procedure?
For our vacuum decarb, we typically heat the reactor to about 60-70 C internally, the heater is set to approx. 110 C. This usually takes a couple of hours to pull all of our Ethanol out of the solution. After that, we begin the decarb by kicking the temperature up to 110 C internally, the heater is set to approx. 125 C. We usually let that go for about 1.5 hours. Should we raise the temps or maybe the amount of time? Thanks for any help!
I’d run hotter and longer. What’s your vacuum?
We are pulling a vacuum of about 25 inHg. What temperature would you recommend and how long would you recommend?
I would run 130C for at least 4 hours, and if you could get deeper vacuum that would be great too.
Ok, we will definitely give it a try! I had read about this issue being linked to decarb but I wanted to hear some other opinions before I started changing any SOPs.
Especially that terp pass is super dark. Try the higher temp longer decarb. There might be some bubbling going on during the feed causing crude to splatter onto the condenser. What are your vac levels during each pass?
Yeah, that’s my diagnosis too at this point
1 Like
And take your condenser out and clean it before the next run.
Thanks everyone, one final question. What temperature parameters would you recommend for my terp and cbd pass? I saw someone above suggested a higher column temp for the terp pass so now I’m curious if I should change others too. Thanks again!
The vacuum levels during each pass are tough to nail down. Delta’s system doesn’t give units on the control panel which blows my mind! For the terp pass, we typically see about 2x10^-1, and for the CBD pass we typically see 4x10^-4. I presume this is torr/mmHg but since they don’t explicitly tell us anywhere, it’s difficult to know. These vacuum levels were the levels recommended to us by Delta’s training team.
Rolled film is different in operating than a wiper. Make sure you put a temp probe in your hopper to make sure temperatures are equal before operating.
What delta calls their RFD is just a standard wiped film with rollers.
This isn’t similar to chemtech?
It’s similar to what chemtech calls their short paths. It’s not similar to what chemtech calls their rolled film. I know, it’s idiotic. Both of their naming conventions could use a little work.
I started researching these systems when I first ran the chemtech. The petro world classifies them as short path evaporators. Than depending on the the blade. It’s agitated or wiper. The rolled film if I remember correctly start pushing out at higher speeds but the inner jacket starts pushing out wards also? So technically they aren’t wrong. I do know they had a rumor out here in Santa Rosa that delta is pushing 6L an hour. No matter what the crude is. I got the opportunity to talk them at my old work. I asked them array of questions. They didn’t confirm this verbally but they smiled when I broke down my theory to even reach that output. I don’t think they are rumors I believe it’s true.