Problem Distilling Butane

[DJKWONDER]

Hey peeps,
Sorry if there is already a thread on this, but I can't seem to find anything helpful whatsoever. Recently got my CLS setup and everything is working beautifully, but when I went to distill my tane I ended up with a fine black powder substance instead of the typical "mystery oil". Ran it two more times and got the same thing. I'm using capital n-tane which I don't really think is the problem. Friend gave me the recovery tank so I'm not sure how old it is but it's the standard 30# yellow tank. Maybe the tank has some corrosion in it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

 

[Graywolf]

That doesn't look like anything I found distilling various LPG sources, so surmise you are most likely correct regarding the condition of the inside of your storage tank.

50# tanks work better for the purpose and new ones are relatively inexpensive.

You may be able to remove the valve and clean yours, or have it done, but a new fresh tank to put your "pharmaceutical" solvent into, would be my suggestion.

 

[DJKWONDER]

That doesn't look like anything I found distilling various LPG sources, so surmise you are most likely correct regarding the condition of the inside of your storage tank.

50# tanks work better for the purpose and new ones are relatively inexpensive.

You may be able to remove the valve and clean yours, or have it done, but a new fresh tank to put your "pharmaceutical" solvent into, would be my suggestion.

Thanks for the input Graywolf! If I were to transfer my solvent from the old tank to a new one do you think I would need to distill again?

 

[Graywolf]

I would distill it to remove the stuff you sent the picture of, so that it doesn't transfer to the new tank.

 

[rascali]

that black residue looks just like the oily residue that extracts from new machined steel. did you clean your system throughly before assembly?

 

[DJKWONDER]

that black residue looks just like the oily residue that extracts from new machined steel. did you clean your system throughly before assembly?

Yeah I cleaned it before, but I bought a new tank like greywolf suggested and that seemed to do the trick!