Expert insights on distillation technology, cannabis processing, solvent recycling, and laboratory equipment.
A Cadiot Distillation Column is also known as a Spinning Band distillation column. One application of Cadiot distillation is for wine analysis, specifically...
GMP asks the question: How do we know that the distillation equipment is operating correctly? A well designed set of GMP documents will ensure that all aspects...
Water-solubles in your distillate can gum up the works. Along with reducing your potency, they cause color in the final product and leave behind sludgy residue...
When buying cannabinoid products in bulk, you will often find yourself thinking about the color. Color can be an important indicator of quality in some cases....
Solvent recovery is an essential part of any hemp or cannabis lab. Whether you extract with a liquid solvent or winterize, you will need a method of bulk...
If you have 5 minutes a day, you have enough time to recycle your solvents. That may sound like an exaggeration but recycling doesn’t take much time. A B/R...
The recycled purity can depend a lot on the recycler being used. With a B/R recycler you can expect high purity recycled solvents. The table below shows...
Q: Our lab is already crowded. Does a recycler take up much space? Space is always in short supply. Choose a “space efficient” recycler and you are on your way...
By now you've heard that many histology labs are recycling their xylene, alcohol, and formalin. What are some reasons to recycle solvents? Don't Throw Solvents...
Q: My old recycler needed water and a drain. Do today’s recyclers need a water hook up? No, you don’t need a water hook up or drain. Older solvent recyclers...
A B/R recycler can recycle a solvent forever! Solvents used for tissue processing or staining becomes contaminated with stain, water, fat, protein, wax, and...
Do filter-based recyclers work? The answer is both yes and no, but mostly no. There are commercial filter recyclers available for alcohol and formalin....
Q: Our lab wants to switch to xylene substitutes. Can they be recycled? Actually, xylene substitutes are easier to recycle than xylene. Their higher boiling...
Q: How many years will a solvent recycler last before it needs replacing? 10 to 15 years or…Longer. Do you remember your cell phone from 15 years ago? The...
No, B/R recyclers do not require special ventilation or a special room. B/R Solvent recyclers are closed systems – no special ventilation needed. B/R solvent...
Q: My boss wants our lab to start recycling solvents. How do I know if it makes financial sense? Solvent recycling saves money! That’s the main driving force...
Q: How do I fill my recycler? Most recyclers have more than one way to fill them. You can choose the fill method that fits your lab. Direct fill – One pour and...
Q: How do I know my recycled solvents are pure? You can use the following quick tests to check the purity of the recycled solvents. Xylene: The Graduated...
Q: I’ve heard some recycled solvents smell fishy. Is there a way to avoid that? Bad smelling solvent is an unpleasant problem but it’s easy to avoid. Waste...
Q: If I am recycling more than one solvent in a recycler, how do I avoid cross contamination between the solvents? After making your solvents nice and clean in...
Solvent recycling in our lab? Sounds great but can’t somebody else do it for us? A growing trend in hospitals is for Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) to...
With a 20 liter (5 gallon) recycler you can easily recycler 5000 to 10000 liters (1300 to 2700 gallons) of solvent in a year. Typical operating costs to...
If you need consistent, high-quality recycled solvents, you need fractional distillation. Fractional distillation is a technique used to purify solvents,...
All About Alcohol Recycling You’ve been using alcohol for years and are thinking about recycling it. That is a great idea that will save you money! It doesn’t...
How Does Formalin Recycling Work? You’ve been using formalin for years and are thinking about recycling it. That's a great idea that will save you money! While...
Labs spend significant sums on buying and disposing of histology solvents. Unseen to most, are the regulatory costs of complying with local and federal...
Tell me about the details of the xylene recycling process Note: With regard to solvent recycling xylene and xylene substitutes are nearly interchangeable. In...
Disclaimer – this post does not address all the safety issues for the crystallization of CBD, Pentane, and other volatiles. They can be very dangerous due to...
Refined cannabinoids such as THC or CBD are some of the most commonly sought-after compounds when performing a vacuum distillation process on crude cannabis...
Ever wonder how THC/CBD products such as vape cartridges, dabs, and edibles are created? Read on to learn more about the cannabis oil products timeline! 1....
Vacuum pump oil contamination can prevent a distillation system from reaching low vacuums (0.01 mmHg) ideal for THC and CBD distillations. Sometimes terpenes...
Simple distillation Simple distillation is a single stage distillation where a liquid mixture is boiled and the resulting vapor condensed. Wiped film and short...
Many people unfamiliar with the nuances of cannabis refinement often believe that a pass (or two) of crude extract through the proper cannabis distillation...
Before you learn how to empty receivers of cannabinoids using a microwave, please be advised there are several ways this can go wrong. This blog post does not...
How would you like to go out for lunch while your distillation system churns out high potency THC distillate. It may seem like a dream but it's already...
Very small amounts of crude oil (7 - 100 ml) can be distilled with the B/R micro crude oil distillation system. The spinning band with a maximum of 15...
Distilling small samples of crude oil 100- 1000 ml Distilling small samples of crude oil can be a challenge. The "hold up" in the column packing...
Reflux is the return of condensed distillation vapor to the boiling flask. Reflux ratio is the ratio of the condensate returned to the boiling flask to the...
Condensate is a by product of raw natural gas composed of light hydrocarbons which can be condensed when below their dew point. There are 3 primary sources of...
High levels of water in crude oil make fractional distillation difficult. Water has a hard time vaporizing from the boiling flask and getting through the...
Various types of crude cannabis extract can be successfully distilled into high purity cannabinoid distillate. With that in mind, it’s critical that the crude...
Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is a naturally occurring isomer of THC found in cannabis plants. It's psychoactive effects are well known. While delta-9-THC...
Tired of chasing vacuum leaks, streaks and residual terpene smell in your THC distillate? Try spinning band distillation on your crude extract. No leaks Stop...
Carbon scrubs and other filter media for cannabis oil extracts Carbon scrubs can be used to remove color from cannabis oil extract and THC distillate. Other...
Short Path Distillation - Just Getting Started Short path distillation is an entry level system for making THC distillate from crude extract. Its simplicity...
Keep it clean. High quality THC distillate should be odorless. It doesn’t take much terpene to give a whole batch of an off smell. Proper cleaning of the...
How do different methods of distillation stack up against each other? System (Size) Distillation Rate Liters of Distillate Number of Passes Final Purity Total...
True boiling point distillation distills crude oil from the initial boiling point up to 370-400 °C. D2892 is the ASTM test number. It is most commonly used to...
Did you know that during a decent first pass in a wiped film that 50% of your starting material can go to waste? The 50/50 split is the perfect example of the...
Short Path Distillation Short path distillation is an introductory distillation technique sometimes used in labs in their start up phase. Short path produces...
Cannabis Oil Extraction – Crude Oil Extraction Consumption of cannabis has shifted over the years from smoking the plant to the use of concentrated cannabinoid...
Not all Crude Oil is the Same. How can you do Quality Control? Refineries buy large volumes of crude oil. But when a 500,000 barrel tanker arrives, how do they...
Read on to learn more about butane collection for true boiling point distillation. Butane is a component of crude oil that boils well below room temperature....
Vacuum Pot Still (VPS) The vacuum pot still distills crude oil residue from 370 ºC up to 565 ºC. D5236 is the ASTM test number. It is most commonly used to...
Lab-scale Crude Oil Distillation Distillation of crude oil in the laboratory models what happens in the refinery. The results of the lab-scale distillation...
True boiling point distillation has distillation column packing that has 15 theoretical plates of efficiency. Many different types of packing are currently...
THC Oxidation to CBN CBN is the oxidative degradation product of THC. It is more stable than THC due to its conjugated structure. THC- Delta 9 CBN -New double...
Spinning Band Distillation Spinning band distillation offers a high efficiency distillation column that can produce 90+% cannabinoid distillate in a single...
Spinning band distillation separates the cannabis oil extract according to the boiling points of the components. Mono-terpenes have the lowest boiling points,...
Those "things" near bottom of the spinning band distillation column are called bellows. They function as a flexible expansion joint. Glass is...
The spinning band distillation column has a vacuum jacket (like a thermos) to minimize heat loss through the distillation column wall. The evacuated jacket...
Spinning band distillation Spinning band distillation can produce distillate with very high THC/CBD concentrations. Over 90% THC concentration is typical for a...
Decarboxylation, AKA Decarbing, is the process of spontaneously converting THCA to THC with heat (approximately 80-120 C). During decarbing THCA is converted...
Why Winterize? Proper winterization is an important step in creating a high purity extract. Winterization is the removal of lipids from crude extract. Lipids...
Spinning band can distill THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids at greatly reduced temperatures. The distillation rate also prevents material from staying at...
CBN is a cannabinoid that is less psychoactive than THC. It is an oxidized form of THC that is known for its sedative effects. We get many questions about the...
Vacuum grease B/R spinning band systems are equipped with o-ring joints. O-ring joints are awesome! They make vacuum tight seals without the use of vacuum...
Short path and wiped film distillation systems use connections called taper joints that require vacuum grease in order to make a vacuum tight seal. Taper...
Ethanol for easy and complete cannabis oil transfer Extracted oil is viscous and sticky. It requires heating in order to transfer it and valuable residue left...
Scalable B/R Cannabinoid distillation systems offer a selection of boiling flask sizes to fit your needs. Choose from 3, 5, 12, 22 and 50 liter sizes. The...
Cleaning a B/R spinning band distillation system couldn’t be easier. Just distill some ethanol to dissolve any residue left behind in the boiler, distillation...
Wiped film (WF) distillation is intended to be operated as a continuous process. Continuous processes have the advantage of running nonstop. Oil is fed in one...
Ethanol Ethanol is its pure form can be quite expensive due to taxation. Denatured ethanol is cheaper but is not food grade due to the chemicals added to...
B/R is the only company in the cannabis industry using a stainless steel cold trap. Why would you use glass (an insulator) as a material for a cold trap? It is...
Automate It! The B/R 9200 spinning band distillation system is automated. Shouldn’t everything be automated? Automation takes the guesswork out of distilling...
The B/R 9200 distillation system is has a been listed by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory! We’d be happy to supply a copy of our certification upon...
Spinning Band Distillation Fewer passes = Faster distillation + Higher Purity + Easier Cleaning Throughput for a wiped film system is slower since: 3 passes...
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