Super Critical CO2 Extractions

[Jack Dupp]

Howdy Farmers~

I've been playing around with making concentrates lately. I've made some Bubble Hash, QWET, tinctures, and have made BHO in the past.

I am always looking to make the purest products possible, so my research took me to CO2 extractions. I like the idea of cheap gas ( around $1 a lb) and no harmful residue in the oil.

I started reading @Graywolf excellent site Skunk Pharm, and seem to have the info on how to process, but after reading some reviews of CHO, I wonder if it is worth it to invest in the equipment. The reviews describe the taste as being terrible and a lesser effect than BHO when smoked. I also read that the finished product is determined by temperature and pressure. Does anyone have a locked down formula?

I don't think that it would be an issue if I were just using the CHO for oral capsules, but I'm wary of providing oil to people I know if the taste turns them away if smoked in an oil rig.

Does anyone have any opinions or advise for me? Any and all information is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[UCMETOO]

IMHO i've been unimpressed with the CHO extracts when put to heat. Flavor is not there and your getting less not more for the effort to extract,......with the kind of success you know you can have doing QWET why would you want to go this route? let me know what your end goal is and i'll try to help.

Greywolf is the MAN when it comes to getting the situation dialed in, but knowing what your after makes all the difference,........for me flavor and potency are the guides anything that takes from these is my enemy.

 

[Jack Dupp]

Thanks for the input UCMETOO.

When you say that you get less for the effort, does that mean you have achieved higher yields with QWET than CHO? I was assuming that with CHO more extractions (ie, up to 8 runs per material) would produce more material. At least that is some of the consensus from some commenters.

I was looking at JYNs "Joe Blow" set-up and also Eden Labs' "Cold Finger" units. I have access to 190 proof Everclear so the Cold Finger is more appealing on start-up costs than the Joe Blow. My latest QWET extractions were with Bubble Hash but I started with 1/4 recommended dosage. It was pretty weak orally, but was really nice for me in an e-pen. This is for someone with Rheumatoid Arthritis and they want to be able to function during the day.

 

[SuperSilverHaze]

JD,

here are a few links to commercial super critical fluid extraction equipment.

http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/...tion-equipment/supercritical-fluid-extraction
http://www.supercriticalfluids.com/products/supercritical-fluid-extraction-products
http://www.apekssupercritical.com/

 

[Flashthunder]

Supercritical co2 has come along ways in the last few years. Take a look at GW new post in icmag:

"Wowza! Hee, hee, hee, thangs are looking up!

I dropped by the Eden Lab booth at the Everett HT Cup last weekend, and shared some of the R&D work Patrick has been working on! Clearly he has moved the ball a long way since we last compared notes and product.

I only tested four, because after the first three, I couldn't tell much about the forth except for taste and consistency.

The first two were the most intriguing, as he did exactly what I had scheduled for the Apek's loaner unit in the first, now making that trip un-necessary. He extracted the monoterpenes separately from the cannabinoid diterpenes and then recombined them.

Before recombination, the THC in the cannabinoid concentrate was in the high 90's percentile, and after recombination it left a loose oil, that was highly aromatic, tasty, and which had loads of head.

Also interesting from the standpoint that the THC fraction was hard as a rock, but instantly turned to droopy oil with a small fraction of the terpenes extracted from it.

The second was extracted with straight n-Propane and was purdier by current market light blond wax standards, as well as strongly aromatic and tasty, with perhaps less head, but hard to tell precisely back to back.

I tested two more CO2 variations and Patrick had more for show and tell, but I only have so many cannabinoid receptors, so we promised to take up where we left off at a later date, when we could test for more that aroma and taste.

He has been doing work fractionating that I wait with bait on mah breath to see where it leads. Exactly the sort of thing that SCFE CO2 is outstanding at doing, but if anyone has already done that ground work on cannabis, they are keeping their mouths shut.

They of course had one of their latest purdy machines on display and many onlookers salivating over it, so everyone was also pressed for time. Fritz did relate that they had moved into a new larger shop near their old one, and invited us to see the new digs and their latest creations, which WW and I look forward to.

Sharing their booth was WAM oil, with an open dabbing table and at least three e-nails staying busy demonstrating their different strains of CO2 extracted oil. Loose clear oils, that were smooth to vaporize and with a lower monoterpene and stronger sesquiterpene presence than Patrick's oil.

Hee, hee, hee, I like where this is going..............."

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?s=159e3c15b6aac6715c4e02c78752f052&t=200071&page=6

 

[SuperSilverHaze]

hmmm, same post GW made at ic.

so, are you drifting away from the butane extraction and looking to sco2?

 

[BubbaG]

CO2 extract shatter. Our first attempt actually, but it's just an engineering exercise to get it cleaner now.... and I have a very good idea for that, but it's gonna involve welding up a jig, so it'll be a while before round 2.

 

[basement bob]

That's some tasty looking stuff. :D
I've had CO2 oil several times, but nothing that clear or hard!
Nice work!

 

[BubbaG]

Thanks man. Not exactly "clear" IMO, but thanks for the kind words. I believe I will be able to get a more clarified product, but it don't ever expect it to be glass clear like good bho shatter.

Shouldn't have to be though considering that it's "clean and green".... unless you listen to the EPA, in which case CO2 is a hazard to your health, but I guess that's only the CO2 that power plants produce...

 

[UCMETOO]

Thanks man. Not exactly "clear" IMO, but thanks for the kind words. I believe I will be able to get a more clarified product, but it don't ever expect it to be glass clear like good bho shatter.

Shouldn't have to be though considering that it's "clean and green".... unless you listen to the EPA, in which case CO2 is a hazard to your health, but I guess that's only the CO2 that power plants produce...

Hey Now BubbaG, i have a fellow extractor that i'm starting a project with soon that gets it Glass Clear, no wax and no dull background,....he has a loss due to the winterization and extraction techniques, ( as anyone would expect ) but what is finished product is tight, clear, clean and Strong in the GODZILLA arena or strong. I will post some picks once were done or as soon as i can so you guys can take a look,..... the only thing better (IMHO) is a true Supercrytical CO2 Extracted oil that is slightly fluid and that kind of thing is currently going for over $70 a gram aroud town you can see exactly what im talking about on HARBORSIDES websight, sorry i don't have a link handy,......!!!!!!

Back at ya soon as i can!

 

[BubbaG]

Hey Now BubbaG, i have a fellow extractor that i'm starting a project with soon that gets it Glass Clear, no wax and no dull background,....he has a loss due to the winterization and extraction techniques, ( as anyone would expect ) but what is finished product is tight, clear, clean and Strong in the GODZILLA arena or strong. I will post some picks once were done or as soon as i can so you guys can take a look,..... the only thing better (IMHO) is a true Supercrytical CO2 Extracted oil that is slightly fluid and that kind of thing is currently going for over $70 a gram aroud town you can see exactly what im talking about on HARBORSIDES websight, sorry i don't have a link handy,......!!!!!!

Back at ya soon as i can!

Thanks for the info bro. Is the extractor you're working with doing CO2 or other? I can't really tell the way you wrote the post. If co2, I would be really interested in his post extraction techniques.??

 

[UCMETOO]

:woot:Sorry for the unclarity, i've been ill for a few days and was just checking my in box,.....My new guy works with (my least favorite extraction medium Butane, Closed loop, presurized (not to a Super crytical level) then into a Vacuume Oven for the timed Purge) and the product is comming back tested in the 90%+ range for THC Content,.....Hope that clears up my blunder. If i could just stay as clear as the Oil, i would have no problems.