Hey I just called Chemtech on Friday to try and get quotes for a Mini-5. They were out of office and are getting back to me next week.
Since your posts are a little dated, I wanted to check back in with you about your current distillate production rate on the unit. 700g/hr is about .7L/hr correct? Even though you can get to 85-95% in one pass do you still usually run two passes to get proper quality? I don’t mean a “devol” run mind you, I’ve never fully understood why anyone would do this in their WFE. I mean do you usually perform two real “cuts”.
Do you mind sharing how much the initial Mini-5 purchase was and also the cost of the upgraded KDL-6 evaporator core? You don’t want to sell it by any chance, do you?
In my head I think about things like this: For these WFEs that are 6" and under, it seems the actual production rate for a finished product is pretty slow (versus a pot still) especially considering the need for multiple passes (I have heard the 2" Popes are around 350ml/hr!) but the trade off is, in theory, with a proper feed pump the units require much less monitoring, adjustment and cleaning/maintenance than a pot or flask based still system that might run a little faster, say around 1L/hr or more.
It seems to me that once you are trying to produce an amount of distillate that necessitates a WFE system larger than 6", the production rates vs. a pot still system improve and the residence time/isomerization issue for 20L+ boiling flasks make the choice to run WFE over a pot still fairly obvious.
Do these points sound accurate, or are they still up for debate?
Edit: I have also heard of a couple operations that are using a “cheap” WFE (Pope) for doing a first pass (again, not a devol run) and then a pot based system for the second pass. Their rationale was that they get better separation and speed with the pot system and are able to run the second pass quick enough to avoid isomerization issues.
@SoStupendous or anyone else feel free to weigh in as well.
I second this concern!! Dr. J, if your a re-seller, fine. If your a guy that mods equipment, fine. If your a guy that says he builds shit that doesnt exist, no good!!! We’re calling you out Doc!!
sorry guys, we are a basic manufacture, and make our own machines. we are not a re-seller- that is why we are getting so many orders for customs builds such solvent recovery units, WFE, etc. if you guys need any custom or off the shelf units, just give us a call
Can anyone comment on using direct electric band vs jacketed heating for 6" or smaller still bodies in SS? Specifically, with the Pope units?
My understanding is jacketed heating gives more consistent and evenly distributed wall temperatures. However, it is more costly vs electric and the time to reach operating temperature is slower. If this is correct, how big of a problem are the hot-spots with the electric heating?
I’ve worked with heated bands on Popes, and I was not terribly impressed.
Pros:
-Warms up faster than a chiller
-Cheap
Cons:
-Thermocouples on the inside of the bands can get damaged and require soldering and repair, you also may not notice this until everything starts overheating all of a sudden
-If not setup properly there will often be small gaps in-between each band and create a possibly unwanted temperature gradient
-Without some type of insulation you’re going to lose heat in the evaporator body
The con’s can be made more bearable with good maintenance and care with your instrument, and leads to a savings in your wallet.
Spinning band has way more plates than WFE, but it’s more involved of a process. WFE has always been easier to scale IMO, but spinning band will give you better separation and fraction control.
If you run your WFE correctly you can achieve the same levels of separation as a spinning band with double the output. I run a 6 inch VTA full speed at 4.5 liters an hour and produce distillate that’s over 99.99% total cannabinoids. Kinda hard to beat that lol
suggests that turning up the spin speed might be a good idea. not sure anyone has pursued that yet.
Edit: and while busy misinterpreting “where are all the spinning bands” I’m going to go further off-topic and point at Centrifugal Partition Chromatography as a valid answer
The only pre processing needed is winterization and to punch out correctly after. You should never need more then 2 passes. 1st pass strips terpenes 2nd pass makes the distillate.
This is second pass. Full speed. No scrubs just winterization and decarb.14.5 liters in 4 hours. Tested over 99.99% total cannabinoids. If you’re not hitting over 99% on your WFE your running it wrong.
I have both in 2". I like the heat banded one better. Yeah, technically there’s more uniform heating in the jacketed one, but there’s certainly not enough of a difference to really affect the performance for the kind of stuff we do with it. The banded jacket requires less maintenance and it’s easier to control the temp. All of that being said glass sucks, stainless is better.
