Terpenator Solvent: Iso-butane vs N-butane
- Thread starter Breakover
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BrainChild
Member
You should distill everything especially the ecogreen. I've heard a lot of people used it successfully but a lot of bad reports lately...
Were you using room temp or warm solvent on that soak?
Were you using room temp or warm solvent on that soak?
Until further notice, EcoGreen needs to be distilled. We're not sure how much Mystery Oil is in the current lot, and the original lot's residue had an off odor.
A couple of thoughts.
n-Butane extracts more longer chain molecules than n-Propane, so going from a mix to straight butane will darken the mix.
If you start with a mix in a passive system, and use the burp technique to void the trapped atmosphere, you also burp off some of the propane.
If you are getting dark extracts with a 70/30 blend, my first question would be, did you predistill it before using it?
Soaking will pick up more of the longer chained molecules like chlorophyll, anthro cyanins, and plant waxes, all of which will darken the extract.
Less at lower temperatures. What temperature are you extracting at?
Heat will darken the extract too. How hot are you running your hot bath during recovery.
BrainChild
Member
I'm still saying too long of a soak with unchilled solvent is probably the cause vs contaminated butane...
120F is too hot. We run with no heat during most of the extraction on smaller units and 85F max to keep the ice off the lower tank on the larger units.
All of the butane I've run so far had some residuals in it, as has everything Skyhighler has tested. All that it takes to have piles of residuals at ppm concentration, is enough millions of parts.
We automatically distill everything first.
I've been doing extractions in Colorado's legal realm for approximately 6 months now, and have experience with ETS, Emotek, Tamisium, and Bhogart. The machine I use at work on a daily basis is a 2-lb ETS model, capable of holding pressures of up to 300psi. I have run iso-propane (what I use most often), iso-butane, and a mixture of both. I really like running at higher pressures, as that means the temperature inside the vessel is colder without having to pre-freeze the column. When I use iso-butane alone, I've found that deep freezing the column first really helps with pulling good colors.
Questions though: 1) Why am I yielding less with propane exctractions? It seems like my average yield with propane is in the 10-15% range, where butane hits 15-20%. I saw you mentioned the greater surface area of buane, meaning it would pull more. I suppose that makes sense, maybe there's my answer.
2)I'm purging propane runs in the oven at around 85degreesF, but it seems like butane runs always taste better. Is iso-butane better at pulling terps than propane? I figure the lower purge temp is glorious for terp retention, but I'm wondering if perhaps propane just grabs fewer terps from the get-go.
It should be said that my favorite products have come from a mix of roughly 20% iso-butane and 80% iso-propane. Having enough propane to keep the pressure high to keep the extraction cold, but enough iso-butane to maybe grab flavor? Still trying to figure this out, sorry if the post is a bit rambling. My best test result has been a concentrate that's 97.9% THCA. A bit of an outlier indeed, but the results are typically in the high 80's to low 90's.
Questions though: 1) Why am I yielding less with propane exctractions? It seems like my average yield with propane is in the 10-15% range, where butane hits 15-20%. I saw you mentioned the greater surface area of buane, meaning it would pull more. I suppose that makes sense, maybe there's my answer.
2)I'm purging propane runs in the oven at around 85degreesF, but it seems like butane runs always taste better. Is iso-butane better at pulling terps than propane? I figure the lower purge temp is glorious for terp retention, but I'm wondering if perhaps propane just grabs fewer terps from the get-go.
It should be said that my favorite products have come from a mix of roughly 20% iso-butane and 80% iso-propane. Having enough propane to keep the pressure high to keep the extraction cold, but enough iso-butane to maybe grab flavor? Still trying to figure this out, sorry if the post is a bit rambling. My best test result has been a concentrate that's 97.9% THCA. A bit of an outlier indeed, but the results are typically in the high 80's to low 90's.
blackbart1720
Member
Could someone please explain why iso-butane with a lower boiling point is harder to extract than n-butane with a higher boiling point. Just not grasping the physics on this one.
CoCoColaClassic
Member
I'd guess it's not the purging, but the recollection requires lower temps And/or higher pressures in recirc systems.
Breakover
Member
It's harder to recondense into liquid due to lower condensation point. Easier to evaporate than N-butane, though.
What BO said.
Do you know what temp is to recondense?
-11.7C/10.9F
