What's new
  • Please note members who been with us for more than 10 years have been upgraded to "Veteran" status and will receive exclusive benefits. If you wish to find out more about this or support IcMag and get same benefits, check this thread here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

Butane recovery issues

RGG

Active member
Hi guys im sure this has been covered before but i tried searching and couldn't find the info.

I am running a half 1/2lb passive cls system with dewaxing column. I have been using if for a couple months now but im not sure i am 1. stripping it of all of the resin and 2. im not recovering all the butane, It feels like i am forever distilling more butane.

I've been trying various flood times started with long 45 min flood with dry ice and iso in dewaxing column and then after reading on here doing 1-3min floods and 2-3 of them before i start recovering butane.

Is it normal not to be recovering al lthe solvent i put in or am i doing it wrong?
 

northstate

Member
ICMag Donor
depending on your budget, get a refrigerant recovery scale (TIF9010A) to measure the whole packed extractor unit and your recovery/storage tank to know for sure. The maths don't lie, you can also get a yield estimate in % too after you weigh your final product;)
 

Gray Wolf

A Posse ad Esse. From Possibility to realization.
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Hi guys im sure this has been covered before but i tried searching and couldn't find the info.

I am running a half 1/2lb passive cls system with dewaxing column. I have been using if for a couple months now but im not sure i am 1. stripping it of all of the resin and 2. im not recovering all the butane, It feels like i am forever distilling more butane.

I've been trying various flood times started with long 45 min flood with dry ice and iso in dewaxing column and then after reading on here doing 1-3min floods and 2-3 of them before i start recovering butane.

Is it normal not to be recovering al lthe solvent i put in or am i doing it wrong?

You will always lose LPG vapors when opening a passive system. The vapor density is a function of its temperature, in relationship to its vapor and boiling points.

What is the solvent(s) and mix ratio?

What is the temperature of the extract collection tank?

What is the temperature of the LPG recovery tank?
 

Gray Wolf

A Posse ad Esse. From Possibility to realization.
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
depending on your budget, get a refrigerant recovery scale (TIF9010A) to measure the whole packed extractor unit and your recovery/storage tank to know for sure. The maths don't lie, you can also get a yield estimate in % too after you weigh your final product;)

A good point! An important tool!

A refrigerant recovery scale will tell you when your solvent storage tank has been fully transferred, as well as when the liquid phase has been fully recovered.

You will always have a vapor (gas) phase in the space above the liquid. A refrigerant pressure gauge will tell you when the pressure is at or below one atmosphere, or zero gauge.

If the LPG is a mixture, while the liquid phase stays mixed, the vapor phase above the liquid will be enriched in the lowest boiling point constituent.

Losing those vapors when you open the system each time, changes the LPG liquid gas ratio through fractional distillation.
 

RGG

Active member
You will always lose LPG vapors when opening a passive system. The vapor density is a function of its temperature, in relationship to its vapor and boiling points.

What is the solvent(s) and mix ratio?

What is the temperature of the extract collection tank?

What is the temperature of the LPG recovery tank?

Hi

The solvent is just butane from whip it cans.

The collection tank is placed in a tub i dont know the exact temp i put water from the kettle in keeping it finger hot.

The recovery tank is sat in dry ice about -20/-25
 

RGG

Active member
depending on your budget, get a refrigerant recovery scale (TIF9010A) to measure the whole packed extractor unit and your recovery/storage tank to know for sure. The maths don't lie, you can also get a yield estimate in % too after you weigh your final product;)

Hi thanks for the info its definitely something that can be in budget if it will help me recover more butane potentially saving time and money.
 

SkyHighLer

Got me a stone bad Mana
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Are you warming up the material column to reclaim the last of the butane after you've finished recovering the butane from the extracted oil?
 

RGG

Active member
Are you warming up the material column to reclaim the last of the butane after you've finished recovering the butane from the extracted oil?

Not really a couple times i have removed dry ice ect from dewaxing column but the more i thought about it i was assuming by warming the column up i would then be warming up waxes fats lipids ect and they would end up in my finish product which is what i was trying to avoid.
 

Gray Wolf

A Posse ad Esse. From Possibility to realization.
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Hi

The solvent is just butane from whip it cans.

The collection tank is placed in a tub i dont know the exact temp i put water from the kettle in keeping it finger hot.

The recovery tank is sat in dry ice about -20/-25

Whip it butane fuel is only about 54% n-Butane, 24% Iso-butane, and 22% Propane.

Propane's boiling point is around -42C/43.6F, so -25C isn't cold enough to recover it

https://butanesource.com/whip-it-premium-msds
 
Last edited:

Gray Wolf

A Posse ad Esse. From Possibility to realization.
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Not really a couple times i have removed dry ice ect from dewaxing column but the more i thought about it i was assuming by warming the column up i would then be warming up waxes fats lipids ect and they would end up in my finish product which is what i was trying to avoid.


To SH's point, we heat our Terpenator columns to 150F purge the LPG that is slowly evaporating from the plant material and chilling it in the process of doing so.

Easy to do with silicone heat mats and PID controller, or a NEMA 7, Class I, Div I installation using hot water jackets and PID controller.

As far as extracting more fats and lipids, boiling the LPG out of the plant material leaves behind any solids dissolved in them. We are heating the column after the liquid has stopped dripping and extraction is complete.
 

RGG

Active member
To SH's point, we heat our Terpenator columns to 150F purge the LPG that is slowly evaporating from the plant material and chilling it in the process of doing so.

Easy to do with silicone heat mats and PID controller, or a NEMA 7, Class I, Div I installation using hot water jackets and PID controller.

As far as extracting more fats and lipids, boiling the LPG out of the plant material leaves behind any solids dissolved in them. We are heating the column after the liquid has stopped dripping and extraction is complete.

Thanks for the info!

So heating the extraction column as well as a lower recovery temperature should result in me recovering more of the solvent.
 

Gray Wolf

A Posse ad Esse. From Possibility to realization.
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Thanks for the info!

So heating the extraction column as well as a lower recovery temperature should result in me recovering more of the solvent.
Yes
 

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top