Why dont you guys use the chiller directly to cool the ethanol instead of cooling the jacketed of the storage tank to cool the ethanol inside?

As the title says why dont you guys use the open type chiller to cool the ethanol down to -40C, -60C etc and directly pump the cold ethanol to the extractor?
There is a tank on the chiller with cooling coils, the freon is in the coils and directly cool the ethano in the tank. The circulting pump will push the cold ethanol into the extractor when it is cold enough.
All the pipes that ethanol has to go through are made of 304.
This chiller is cheaper and more efficient!
Is it ok for you? @SidViscous @Califunkyuh @pangea @Miles-Beyond

Here is a video

Ok, I’ll bite, what are you supposed to do about the ethanol that is laden with cannabinoids after the extraction? Probably have to make a loop starting in the chiller, and ending in the FFE to be recirced to the chiller.
That’s allot of alcohol in process

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OP is likely under the assumption a single pass is all that’s being utilized. :man_facepalming: They have little understanding concerning how critical saturation decreases overall cost of operation. Such a waste to not saturate your tincture, and that chiller could never handle running tincture.

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Because I can warm extract and winterize with membranes so it saves me a shit ton on energy

Pretty simple

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I see.

I mean. It’s not an entirely inappropriate use of your chiller. I just forsee some stuff getting sticky along the way. Is the pump and all its seals rated for alcohol?

I can see that being a potential issue. Same with any other seals or gaskets along the flowpath. Once your alcohol starts dripping onto your electrics, it’s a whole different set of problems.

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Heptane compatibility is almost more important, as most labs cheap out and buy CDA12-A, but your point remains.

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It’s actually a pretty good idea for most situations.

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Most chiller fluid that gets this cold is flammable, as well. Most of the manufacturers test the units with alcohol, it’s cheaper than dwtherm when you spill it. Most of the internals are capable of using alcohol.

And I would assume they are using clean alcohol before they extract with it. If not, then I’m on the same page as you are

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Agree with you, seals, pump and pipes are rated for ethanol. But we have to consider the problem of that stuff getting sticky et, because the ethanol is reused in the process.
Pipes and all the fittings have to be bigger and easy to clean.

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LOL, yes I forget the ethanol is reciced to the chiller again

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If you have it going through a cup of sorts, it wouldn’t. It would chill the res, then send it through the cup. How shitty is it to not use it more than once

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I want a refrigerated cold slab like at cold stone

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Sssh!

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I’d so love more information about this. <3

I’ve been doing side by side analysis on just this thing and I’ve found that about 60% of the time I’m seeing people who are trying to double up saturation are leaving ~30% of the THC behind in the biomass (which they rarely test until I come and ask them to do so). I don’t see issues with that when people don’t recirculate their tincture for a second set of saturation.

Some people seem to be really doing the mass balance for how much they are pulling from the plant matter and how much solvent is needed - but that appears to be less than half. And even people who say they are doing it appear to be leaving a lot behind specific to trying to do this saturated tincture (which I think is a great plan and lowers bottlenecks down the line).

I looked and I didn’t see a huge data dump on mass balances and saturation levels and associated waste amounts, etc. If you have some I’d be so happy to see it. I want about 5 more data points worth of info before I share mine.

Thanks.

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I chill my ETOH to -40, on a loop, pump what I need through my CUP 30. Filters , then SRS, reclaiming most of my ETOH, before adding back to my initial feed tank i test the proof if it satisfies my QA team, we rechill and reuse. This is applicable only when I have a constant Lot of feedstock that I am running.

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Because we barely trust those chillers to work. Trusting that you’ve used food grade components in a device not expected to see such duty simply makes no sense.

It’s not like this is a new concept:

We just have zero faith in the internals…

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Trick is to put an arometrix fraction finder on your outlet and tune your times and solvent volumes.

I’ve used repeated sampling of the effluent via hplc, but having analytics directly on the fuge is huge.

But I’ve been pushing In House analytics since I got here three years ago…

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I’m doing in house analytics and I do analytics for others when I come out just in case (sometimes I even bring a stupid heavy “portable” unit with me). Sure would love to have a fraction finder on my outlet…instead of having to grab samples all the time. 15 minutes is 15 minutes, you know?

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