We are in the process of getting an Eden Labs 500 gallons Ethanol extractor that should allow us to raw extract 5,000 pounds a day (24 hours). We are going to have a bottle neck with winterization. Even the biggest buchner flask/funnel would require way to many and super cold freezers are only so big. Is there a more economical method to remove the wax?
we have machines and technology in order for you do both the extractions and winterizations. give us a call
in both bulk and small scale
http://advancedcannabisdistillationequipment.com/Contac_%20us.htm
Thanks. Have been emailing Adam Taylor on your Distillation machines. Will send him an email.
I don’t know that “economical” is the right word for it since they aren’t cheap, but you might look at what Sambo Creek has to offer. The important things you need to get your winterization process to move along faster is the ability to cool down a lot of liquid quickly (I.E. bigger freezers or jacketed reactors with strong TCU’s), lots of surface area (bigger benchtop or trolley buchners) and a strong vacuum source (big CFM rating).
I posted this thread a bit ago trying to figure out how to work a little smarter, I had over 400 gallons of 10:1 ethanol:crude mix that I had to filter after my last batch was extracted at room temps. Got thru it and learned a lot. Winterizing smarter, not harder
The amount of hassle involved with winterizing is likely why so many extractors are moving towards cold extraction, and cutting out the winterization step entirely because they leave those waxes and lipids in the plant material.
Also, no offense but I’m pretty skeptical of extracting 5000 lbs/day with a 500 gallon reactor, that means a new batch every 2 hours with 24 mins in between batches for cleanout & reloading. It also means recovering solvent at a rate of nearly 3.5 gals/minute which takes one hell of an energy and infrastructure investment (ask me how I know…)
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There is definately ways to remove the wax without using cryogenics. I have used one way in particular that also removes green chlorophyll during the same dewaxing process. I had a vid up on it at youtube before the dreaded youtube “community standards violation” purge of my refinement content… I no longer youtube lolz.
I do not stock ethanol or use it for personal reasons and have not tried this with ethanol. However here is how it works with isopropyl alcohol and methanol.
Disolve the compound in methanol and let sit at room temp. Methanol will not disolve plant waxes but they are carried by it. Given a few hours at room temp much of the waxes will have precipitated out of solution. Then take a buchner funnel and put 3 inches or so of aluminum oxide at 220-240 grit into the funnel and pack it. Then before you pull the methanol through pull through tap water until the aluminum oxide is dryish of the water. With vacuum still on add the methanol to the prewetted alumina and vacuum through. This is a filtration but is close to a reverse phase chromatography technique. Those waxes will slam on the brakes when they hit that prewetted alumina and will be held on top.
If you wish to also collect the chlorophyls and a GOB of any very fine particulate and other gunk then the real champion is pretty much the same but with wildly more efficient results. I will post a new video next months med run on how to do this. Here is how
Disolve your compound in 70/30 (nominal) isopropy alcohol or alternatively in 99% iso for convenience. Then bring the compound and iso to a gentle boil in order to boil off the iso. If you started with 99% then begin to add water to the mix once boiling has commenced. You will likely see as the water is added significant cloudiness and according to starting compound the aqeous portion you are adding turns milky white. Reduce the mix until it is obvious that the iso has depleted to a minimum and the compound is just rolling around as an emulsion in the boil. It will look aweful with luck.
Then prepare an alumina column again as before. Redisolve the compound with 70/30 iso to water or therabouts and pull the compound through the same way as with methanol. You will see a gob of waxes and green things and all manner of gunk that gets swollen in boiling water get held up on top of the alumina and the canabinoids pass through. It is important if you want to leverage this that the iso not be 99% when pulling it through or it ends up pulling more stuff through. Expect to see an aqeous layer of usually white elute before the compound. This is mostly water with some terpenes and is discarded by me.
Methanol and water do not form an azeotrope and so the methanol boils off really before the water has a chance to get at the hydrophobic compound. So boiling it in methanol (I have tried) and doing the same thing really accomplishes little. Isopropyl alcohol and water do form an azeotrope so the water and the iso are boiling at the same time and the isopropyl alcohol exposes the hydrophobic compounds to the boiling water. I call this hydrolysis as I have explained it.
My missing data point is ethanol in regards to advice to you. Ethanol also forms an azeotrope with water. I predict it would perform substantially similar in this regard to isopropyl alcohol as they have similar polarities and properties. My suggestion if either of these methods is appealling is to try it on an ounce or so to see. I have been producing on a micro scale highly purified compound without using a freezer for a long time and this was key to it at first. I did buy a cryogenic immersion chiller and will use it as well but before when I did the processes I described above and used dry ice to chill it before the funnel it really did not pull out any more stuff that I noticed than just a room temp run. The chiller was purchased for other labs as well mostly.
My point is that without question there are simple ways to dewax without chilling first. I am currently working on a lab that should also dewax via a five minute liquid to liquid extraction that should also remove chlorophyll. If I can repeat the experiment three times I will video it and post. Good luck!
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@beaker @greenbuggy thanks for the valuable insight and info. 5,000 pounds per day was what was quoted to me by Eden Labs. “4800 lbs over 18 hours” to be exact. Assuming 90min runs.
We carry both high purity methanol and activated alumina…we could sell them in combo as the “Beaker Method” if you like hehe.
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@Shadownaught Naw… lolz… I like your toon name better.
“Shadownaught Z tech” sounds so much cooler! Just never tell anyone what the “Z” stands for but put on a super smart look when you say, “You know I am glad you asked. Let me show you our product line.” 
Besides, how would you explain the dog nuts?
(by the way I love doctors. The reason I rip on Phd types and it seems unfair is that I have yet to rip away at the GED only crowd. With PTSD it just takes time to get around to pissing everyone off, eh?) 
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Preaching to the choir shipmate…PTSD is a bitch. One reason I can’t wait to have D8-THC on hand more often. @Beaker
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thank you
We developed a system that does closed loop winterization. It can also be sued for small scale cryogenic extraction.
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But I don’twant to be sued for small scale cryogenic extraction
(Go big or go home…)
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I really like the idea of the ln2 winterization, anyone else tried this with success? Does rapid cooling speed this process up, and at what point does it degrade it? @Modulab How long does your machine take for each winterization run?
What are you guys planning for solvent recovery?
Our PLC is programmed for “rapid controlled cooling” (top curve). Then it maintains the setpoint temperature for as long as desired. This system is very flexible. Batch winterization can take 4 hours or 24 hours…
Our solvent recovery system is forced circulation bulk evaporation followed by wiped film.
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HELLO 1244 FARMS DO YOU HAVE CRUDE READY TO GO WITERIZED OR DECARBED? Can you please contact me 8184711928 lmk asap? thank you…
Hello. What ratio of methanol are you using? Is it 10:1? Are you still using this method or have you moved on to something better? Did you ever make a video?
Has anyone tried this with Ethanol?
@Skillet Methanol worked Fucking amazing for me at 6:1. Did a room temp dewax, then a -20 winterization right after. Got about as much out of the cold filtration as I did in the room temp and the end color and smell of my distillate was phenomenal (especially for my first run). Granted, this material was SUPER filthy, probably room temp extracted for an hour filthy. But I’m now a big fan of methanol. Just for god sake please use proper PPE. The shit is a cumulative toxin. Hell, I even have 3-4 beers after working with it just in case…
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