That is really interesting, thanks for your response. I have considered whether or not the particle size of the T-5 can become much smaller than advertised, especially after it is subjected to supercritical CO2 conditions…
We use filter media in-line mostly because of process flow and efficiency; it is easier to incorporate the color remediation/ potency increase during the extraction process rather than add an extra step down the line.
Have you applied your color remediation tek in-line in CO2 extraction and preferred to do it down stream, or do you use a different solvent for extraction?
Are you willing to share any info on your submicron filtration process? Pressurized filtration through a lenticular filter, or table top through diatomaceous earth?
you do supercritical? Whatever? On the biomass which was heated at 250F for 2hrs. Correct?
Please take some 98% pure THC and put it in an open test tube and heat it for 2hrs at 250F. Do something simple.’
Tell me what is in that tube after the two hours.
I think it is ironic that half the processing world wants their material fresh frozen immediately after harvest, then ice cube processed and pressed never going over 90C…
For some of the finest material in the world.
Others do long process air drying and preheating their products to 250F for two hours before they even start.?
Presumably because they think extracting THC from biomass is advantageous over THCA?
Yet those who extract THCA with alkanes have the “problem” that medussa crystals and chalk crystals just fall out of their solutions on the very first step…up to 96% pure.
Maybe some one should rethink the extraction strategy over there…
As noted above there are CO2 extraction strategies that yield THCA crystal out of the tap. Yield is low but seems worth looking into.
I was running CXE when I was doing extraction work, so my cannabinoid fraction came out dissolved in etoh, and none of the mfgs for the remediation products I was using could confirm their products wouldn’t swell under the conditions I was running. I was also running fresh not decarbed. So v different situations than you’re in. Ran everything through sintered filters down to 1μm and then used disposable filter housings down to .22. No matter how much I rinsed my filter media i always picked stuff up down at .22.
What does help to mitigate this is passing some fresh solvent treu to make the cake
Then passing your tincture treu
Most clays are self filtering after the first few liters passed treu
Yes baking is a standard protocol. The water content in the media will influence your pH just like when we do water washes to adjust pH. Moisture in Bentonite/carbon is usually acidic. Moisture found in silica’s are usually base. You will greatly improve your flow when baking out the water as well.
I was told it’s standard practice to decarb the biomass first with CO2 extraction because the solubility of the acids isn’t as high as the neutral cannabinoids. You cut your run times down if it’s THC/CBD before extraction, and with standard pilot scale supercritical systems that’s the biggest bottleneck: run time. If you are just going to distillate like the OP I guess it’s ok, but CO2 seems like the least efficient way to get there time and labor-wise.
@Billiamaire:
I assume there’s still a winterization step after extraction, or is that part of the CRC?
Are you testing the crude after decarb/devol to verify it was mostly/fully decarbed before you start to distill?
I’m sure we could find a less efficient route if we tried (Distilling Rosin? Yeah?)… not the fastest way of skinning cats by any stretch of the imagination.
To all members
Sadly one of or European members lab has been raided and althou he’s not been captured and on the loose he is trying to give plausible causes of to high thc containing extracts on the premises
Since a CO2 extraction rig was on the premises we are trying to give plausible unintentional reasons of thc occupancies in extracts and this is one of them
Co2 is a Lewis acid and therefor capable of isomerization of cbd to THC
All co2 extractors know this by now
Yet I am wondering if any one knows of any scientific paper on the subject Wich can be used in court ( hopefully before)
To give plausible argument on the
Existence of to high thc% in extracts found on the premises
Sorry to hear about that! This paper may be your best bet, or at least a great starting point:
Key takeaway from the abstract: Conclusions: The results suggested that the copresence of carbon dioxide and water from the air could be the key for creating the acidic environment responsible for the cyclization of CBD. These findings suggest that it might be appropriate to review the storage conditions indicated on the label of commercially available CBD.
I guess it also depends on the concentration of THC found in the material onsite. This paper (and other similar ones) only really covers trace/minor conversion. If we are talking majority THC extracts it may not be as helpful…
In clay sciences, the clay fraction of materials (soils, argilites, bentonites…) is generally defined as the <2 microns fraction. Some researchers even purifiy down to <0.2 microns for their studies. (I’m always fine with with the 2 micron, personally).
Bentonite main clay (montmorillonite) are made of small sheet crystals which have a thickness of 10 nanometers, but a lateral size of up to 2 microns. These sheets generally stacks into thicker particles, which further form larger agregates (with various orientation).
I read t5 consists of a 5-200 microns fraction. This makes little sense except if they refer to agregates in fact (which can always disassemble, if helped to…). T5 is also termed as an activated clay with neutral pH. My guess is that this is therefore “sodium activated” (all cation exchange sites saturated with sodium, which is easier to further re-exchange for most other cations) ans not “acid activated” (exchange sites saturated with protons, also easier to remove, but also particle size reduced, exposing more “edges” with stronger sorption sites than the basal surface).
One must also note than even natural “unactivated” clays, even purified,can cause some isomerisation if sufficient heat is applied…
All this written, the possibility of clay particles making it through the process and promoting isomerisation cannot be rulled out (not mentioning the possible efffect of SC CO2 treatment…)…
Still, as @Roguelab wrote, clay cakes also tend to “self filter” (or, worse, clog or seal…).
