Active Closed Loop System - Pneumatic Pump?

[ICE9]

I've been in the extraction game for a while and was looking to start upgrading and maybe start building a closed loop system. I've researched for quite a bit on different setups and methods and whatnot and never could understand why people are using electrical pumps at all in the process of moving butane in a system.

Now I'm for sure not a chemist, but why are people paying like $2k for a explosion proof pump? I feel like thats overkill if you're only running like a pound at a time.

I've not seen this specific question answered, but why doesn't anyone use a pneumatic (air compressorpowered) single diaphragm pump? I've seen small stainless ones for like $160 that are designed for acids and solvents. Is this just something people have overlooked because people are quick to adopt whatever method "works"? They're air powered so there's no chance of combustion.

Again, I'm for sure as hell not a chemist, but couldn't you just run a hose from your heated collection vessel to a condenser coil packed in ice or something and then another hose to the pump and then back to the column?

Or am I missing something? Will the pump not draw in the vapor purging off from the heated collection chamber? Am I way off base here? Comments? Snide remarks? :)

 

[Graywolf]

Some light reading:

http://thealchemistresource.thealchemistresource.com/p/blog-page_29.html

http://thealchemistresource.thealchemistresource.com/p/v-behaviorurldefaultvmlo.html

http://thealchemistresource.thealchemistresource.com/p/blog-page_29.html

 

[DemonTrich]

We were just talking about this in another thread. Greywolf mentioned high LEL levels brought thru a pump can cause an explosion.

 

[ICE9]

I understand why to use something like a explosion proof pump in a large scale application where you need to move a lot of liquid. But as far as just running like a pound of material for small scale productions, would it be just as effective to use a small pump that is basically just the end head component of one of those mechanical pumps that's driven by air so there isn't an electrical component involved in the first place?

This is kind of like what I was talking about, but there's other materials and whatnot. There are ones made entirely of polypropylene. It's pneumatic (air powered) so there's no chance of explosion since there's no ignition. It's made for moving solvent and acids and is rated as such. I'm not trying to move like gallons of butane, just enough for a one pound column and probably just through 1/4" lines.

I'm just curious if that would work or not and if it would be worth it for larger yields for product that will be used for like edibles or tinctures. I'm assuming it would kind of degrade the quality of the end product a little even though the yield would be higher since it would be stripping out like every drop, so it probably wouldn't be as good for dabbing. But I don't know if and what kind of added yield it would produce and whether it would be worth the effort/money. It's just a curiousity/idea I had that I figured smarter people than me would have the answer to, lol.

Thank you also for that post and links, as it answered a few other questions I had. You deserve a metal and or trophy of some sort for your contributions to all of weed kind and kind weed.

 

[Graywolf]

That appears to be a liquid pump and we are recovering the LPG as a vapor.

 

[ICE9]

I'm sure these are dumb questions to you, lol, and I appreciate your patience. Like I said, I'm far from being a chemist or scientist and am just trying to grasp a working concept here. I just didn't know if that kind of idea was going to work, and how to do it on a smaller/cheaper scale. Or even if it would be worth all the effort.

I figured the liquid pump because there would be a coiled condenser before the pump that would theoretically condense the butane back to a liquid state before reaching the pump. Then the outlet from the pump would just dump back into the top of the column. Obviously I don't understand vapors or why that doesn't work, Lol, that's why I figured I'd ask. But since it's in a closed system wouldn't it still generate a pull to get the vapor moving into the condenser?

If you used a different kind of micro pump, like an air/gas one, would that work?

 

[Graywolf]

The pump is typically placed between the collection tank and condensing coil. The pump adds heat from entropy and from compression that must be removed to liquefy the LPG.

 

[MirrorZen]

Get a CMEP. Best.