Molecular Sieve Filter

Kcar · Feb 28, 2014

Having run the same C4H10 over and over again,
I feel that we've been picking up water over time.

I made a Molecular Sieve Filter out of parts from Glacier and
off amazon.

Glacier:

1 3" x 6" sanitary spool.
2 3" endcaps
2 3" clamps
2 3" screen gaskets (exp!)

Amazon:

2 1/4" JIC to 1/4" npt 316SS fittings
3a Molecular Sieve from Msorb

Pics soon

RegisPhilburn1 · Feb 28, 2014

Great thread idea, water pickup is certainly a common problem that needs some fixing. i was in the middle of getting the same thing together after Nothern_lab said he had made one. It would be really great to get away from refrigeration grade materials as much as possible, and more towards sanitary components.

I was thinking of going longer rather than wider, maybe 2"x12" or 2x6". im thinking that it might be hard to diffuse the gas stream enough to get good coverage on the wider spools. Or maybe you could get one of those large perforated plate gaskets from rubberfab to help spread the stream across a wider area.

i wonder if dust build up from the beads is an issue, im sure a solid core would work better, but a fine enough gasket on the pump side should protect it. Ill probably go 1/2 JIC in and 1/4 JIC out.

We could also easily regenerate the mole sieve beads in our Vac ovens at high temps/high vac too

Kcar · Feb 28, 2014

Some pics...

We will weigh the media before and after.

oldchuck · Feb 28, 2014

Looks interesting.

RegisPhilburn1 · Feb 28, 2014

Looks good, do you plan on using it before the recovery machine or on the liquid line? or both

?

I bet you could dehydrate a whole tank of butane at once by filling a column full of mole sieve beads and cycling it through a bunch of times.

Kcar · Feb 28, 2014

I plan to use it on the line between the collection pot and the Appion.
But if I used it on the line between the gauge set and the storage tank,
it would get sieved both coming and going.... Does anyone know it that
will work?

RegisPhilburn1 · Feb 28, 2014

it should work, ive got one of the emersons filter driers on each side of the appion.

I would probably use high pressure clamps on the high side though do to the pressure. My pressure on the high side is usually around 60-80psi according to the crappy appion plastic gauge.

do you think that the beads will also catch terpenes/oil? i worry bout what terpene vapors could be doing to the appion/storage tank.

Kcar · Mar 3, 2014

Gonna do a run tomorrow, and still haven't decided which side to put
it on. I'm thinking recovery side, so I don't lose a bunch of butane when I
pull the hoses...

jdee · Mar 3, 2014

That looks like a great alternative to filter driers, I prefer things that are rebuildable, rather than disposable. Looks like like 500 grams of those beads absorbs 100ml of water. My filter drier only holds 10 ml. Thanks for sharing.

JColtrane · Mar 3, 2014

I'd put ball valves at both ends ...

Kcar · Mar 3, 2014

JColtrane said:
I'd put ball valves at both ends ...

Why?

JColtrane · Mar 4, 2014

Guess I'm not sure now ...

HG23 · Mar 4, 2014

Kcar, you can use the ball valves to isolate the various lines/components (sieve) from the Terp to recover the refrigerant in them. If you have ball valves on the ends of your hose segments you could just use those, but it might come in handy down the road to be able to totally isolate the sieve if it takes some time to recover.

JColtrane · Mar 5, 2014

ya, what he said ... lol

HG23 · Mar 5, 2014

I'm curious how the flow is going to be through this sieve with it being a straight through design. You know what I mean? Will the refrigerant spread out and contact the entire volume of beads or will it go through and only contact a small section? Like a doughnut hole. Did you guys see that cold trap design on SPR.com? They have the inlet/outlet on the same end and use a section of sanitary spool for a down pipe. It's a slightly different application, but the design might transfer over. Or maybe Kcar's is sufficient, I'm down to find out.

Gray Wolf · Mar 5, 2014

HG23 said:
I'm curious how the flow is going to be through this sieve with it being a straight through design. You know what I mean? Will the refrigerant spread out and contact the entire volume of beads or will it go through and only contact a small section? Like a doughnut hole. Did you guys see that cold trap design on SPR.com? They have the inlet/outlet on the same end and use a section of sanitary spool for a down pipe. It's a slightly different application, but the design might transfer over. Or maybe Kcar's is sufficient, I'm down to find out.

Looks to me like it should work. Looking forward to the test results!

tricholuv · Mar 5, 2014

could this same idea of using the dehydrating beads the pull water out of solvent be used to pull water from alcohol like iso or ethanol. lets say i poured a 151 proof grain alcohol through the beads, would i be able to produce a 190-195 proof for dewaxing? sorry i know off topic just curious.

HighStateToke · Mar 5, 2014

Is this being used inconjunction with filter driers?

Going to have to construct one of these soon, perhaps with a 1"x12" spool to ensure proper filtering.

Kcar · Mar 5, 2014

Well, after 3 runs, the molecular sieve gained 9.8g.
Not as much as I had hoped, but it's 10g of H20 not in our concentrates.
Going to bake it at 460F for 2 hours and try again tomorrow...

HighStateToke · Mar 5, 2014

That's awesome. I wonder if there is any risk of contamination from the beads?

Molecular Sieve Filter

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