jdubz206
Member
Has anyone ever tried a low pressure co2 extraction to make oil? I've heard of people talk about supercritical co2 extraction of hash oil but never seen it in action. That's probably because it requires huge machines that are able to keep the co2 in liquid form through very high pressure. DIY Supercritical extraction with co2 would be extremely dangerous, maybe even more so than butane. The co2 must be above 1100 psi. Normally it co2 extraction takes place between 6,000-10,00 psi. Basically it seems impossible unless you know how to build a pressurized chamber that would be SAFE or have $20,000+ to shell out on an extractor.
Low pressure extraction actually seems like it would be the best bet for making hash. Check out this information I found:
There are two basic types of CO2 extraction. Low pressure cold extraction involves chilling CO2 to between 35-55 degrees F and pumping it through the plant material at between 800-1,500 psi. Supercritical Fluid extraction involves heating the CO2 to above 87F and pumping it above 1,100 psi. Usually this work is done between 6,000-10,000 psi. Supercritical Fluid CO2 can best be described as a dense fog whereas the first method described uses the CO2 in a dense liquid state.
Low pressure CO2 is often the best method for producing high quality botanical extracts. CO2 has a high loading rate in this state meaning that you will have to pump many volumes of CO2 through a given volume of botanical. The loading rate is typically 10-40 volumes. For this reason, it is important to have a high flow pump and a CO2 recycle system unless wasting high volumes of CO2 is not a concern.
So it would seem that if you were to chill a bottle to 35-55 degrees and pumped it through a metal tube with a valve at 800+ PSI, it would extract... I don't know much about this subject at all, I may be completely wrong but I'd really like to hear any info about this idea and why or why not it would not work. Is 800 PSI an extreme amount of pressure? Don't paintball guns use somewhere around this amount?
Something else to consider that I found on the same page, especially for those doing butane extractions like me:
Propane- There is a little known school of thought in the natural products industry which believes that propane is the ultimate solvent for extracting botanicals. Eden Labs has tested this theory thoroughly and we have come to the conclusion that there is something to it. Although propane cannot be as widely manipulated through temp. and pressure as CO2, it produces very similar results, sometimes better. It has an amazingly small loading ratio 1-4 volumes and it can be recovered quickly. This means much faster production times. It leaves no toxic residues and it is an all natural, organic solvent. The material data safety sheet, MSDS, says it is harmless except for the fact that is flammable. Because it works at relatively low pressures, 80-150 psi, the technology costs much less than a full supercritical CO2 system and can be very competitive in terms of quality and speed of production.
The webpage will this info is http://www.edenlabs.org/supercritical_extraction.html. Pretty damn interesting.
Low pressure extraction actually seems like it would be the best bet for making hash. Check out this information I found:
There are two basic types of CO2 extraction. Low pressure cold extraction involves chilling CO2 to between 35-55 degrees F and pumping it through the plant material at between 800-1,500 psi. Supercritical Fluid extraction involves heating the CO2 to above 87F and pumping it above 1,100 psi. Usually this work is done between 6,000-10,000 psi. Supercritical Fluid CO2 can best be described as a dense fog whereas the first method described uses the CO2 in a dense liquid state.
Low pressure CO2 is often the best method for producing high quality botanical extracts. CO2 has a high loading rate in this state meaning that you will have to pump many volumes of CO2 through a given volume of botanical. The loading rate is typically 10-40 volumes. For this reason, it is important to have a high flow pump and a CO2 recycle system unless wasting high volumes of CO2 is not a concern.
So it would seem that if you were to chill a bottle to 35-55 degrees and pumped it through a metal tube with a valve at 800+ PSI, it would extract... I don't know much about this subject at all, I may be completely wrong but I'd really like to hear any info about this idea and why or why not it would not work. Is 800 PSI an extreme amount of pressure? Don't paintball guns use somewhere around this amount?
Something else to consider that I found on the same page, especially for those doing butane extractions like me:
Propane- There is a little known school of thought in the natural products industry which believes that propane is the ultimate solvent for extracting botanicals. Eden Labs has tested this theory thoroughly and we have come to the conclusion that there is something to it. Although propane cannot be as widely manipulated through temp. and pressure as CO2, it produces very similar results, sometimes better. It has an amazingly small loading ratio 1-4 volumes and it can be recovered quickly. This means much faster production times. It leaves no toxic residues and it is an all natural, organic solvent. The material data safety sheet, MSDS, says it is harmless except for the fact that is flammable. Because it works at relatively low pressures, 80-150 psi, the technology costs much less than a full supercritical CO2 system and can be very competitive in terms of quality and speed of production.
The webpage will this info is http://www.edenlabs.org/supercritical_extraction.html. Pretty damn interesting.
