CO2 Extraction and MMCs - question on how things work

Check out the vid under our facility

What's the story with Co2 oil and reducing into a solid state with preservation of terpenes and flavonoids? I have been less than impressed with the majority of co2 oils, they all carry a very similar flavor profile with just an accent of the strain, instead of the robust flavor upfront like BHO!

Now to rant for a second and try to get some feedback from other Colorado people!

I guess it comes down to piece of mind, I would feel safer consuming a co2 extracted concentrate because of inconsistencies within the market and current MIP processors! I see a lot of residuals from companies like Colorado concentrates that make me sick, maybe lipids and waxes, might be butane? I don't see a lot of testing going on before being dispersed to the medical community.? Maybe I am wrong? This is a problem, I believe all batches should be tested before being sent out! This is medicine after all, and should be regulated as such! Especially if patients are paying 30-70 dollars a gram.

Love the thread Bubba!!

Apparently we have much of the same interests..lol

I recently thought to construct a unit similar to the Tami, and I too turned to Skunkpharm..
A friend of mine actually decided he wanted the unit, after he and I discussed the idea of the butane recovery system.

We both thought...
” Lets buy one first, the unit would pay for itself rather quickly with nearly 100% recovery rate.”

Then we are going build one.. But on a larger scale and base the design around the currently purchased pre-fabbed unit.

I've been rambling on and on how oil is the future of cannabis as a medicinal venue...and if vendors were smart, they would go through the residual testing, to obtain the” Medically Correct stamp.

Top Shelf Extracts is the only vendor I'm aware of the has that stamp..

Sorry to ramble...lol

Just love this topic.

chewberto said:

What's the story with Co2 oil and reducing into a solid state with preservation of terpenes and flavonoids? I have been less than impressed with the majority of co2 oils, they all carry a very similar flavor profile with just an accent of the strain, instead of the robust flavor upfront like BHO!

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Agreed, the CO2 oil I get for the vape pen is lacking in flavor... good flavor that is.


The only reason I was looking at CO2 was because I thought it might not draw as much heat and regulation as using a combustible like butane. Nothing wrong with butane extraction IMO.... if gas is pure quality.


Here's the rub though with using butane for large quantities over a period of time - I'm not talking hobby use, but a piece of equipment placed into daily use. Problem is, shit blows up eventually.


I know I'm square, can't help it lol. You guys ever been in a refinery? They spend billions of dollars on maintenance trying to keep their equipment within tolerance else... boom. Refineries still go boom on a regular basis. Advice... if you ever find yourself in a refinery, never stand on the man hole covers. If there is an explosion, they become like corks out of champagne bottles.


That brings me to SDAs post. Those things are cool bro. Not sure how much you are scaling up, but just be careful. I haven't read much on it, but I'm assuming you'll have your butane source well away from the reaction and with a control valve. My comment about the 3/4" plate steel earlier in the thread was kind of sarcastic, but not entirely. I would separate myself from the reaction by a steel plate firewall personally. Also, you should develop an SOP for a run. This procedure would take you step by step through all leak checks etc, before doing a run. Maybe I'm being a mother hen, probably am.

I have to ask , when using a system like the Tamisium and it recycles butane, after it gets ran through a batch of a strain, does it drag any of its oils, or by-products from the strain into the chamber with the butane? Then into the next batch of oil? Seems like strains would leech into one another?

You would need to run a filter/dryer IMO to keep the butane pure..... you'd run that ahead of the butane reclaim vacuum pump, or whatever the skunkpharm guy calls it keeping moisture out of the pump is a good idea anyways...

Gutray said:

Bubbagineer,

I was wondering how your progress was going on this? I started the same thing as you a few years ago and have developed a working batch process and have been expanding it and modifying for the past 2 years (for all the people that might comment, I will post a build thread and details here soon once the process is finalized). I would love to bounce some ideas off you about some of these concepts if you would be interested.

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Shoot. Sorry, I just saw your post.

Here's another link to co2 machines, same kinda machine that element420 uses I've seen it in action before and seen the end product it's FIRE! http://edenlabs.com/processes/co2-extraction

Element420 has some tasty co2 oil I just love their power Kush oil nice smell too. This guy is successful pulling terp in his co2 oil.

Have any of you messed with purging or polishing a CO2 extract? I've built a 3" x 36" pressure vessel, and the oil im getting out is a dark amber to a light, opaque brown. Its very runny, implying that there is moisture in it from the trim or the ambient air. Any ideas how to clean the oil up, or if it needs it?

Cool! So did you compress or heat the CO2? Just curious what your process is. I'd say if it's runy, it probably is water. I'd put it in a double boiler and see if you can whip it some and get it to steam the water off. Best I can think of anyways.

milehighstoner! said:

Here's another link to co2 machines, same kinda machine that element420 uses I've seen it in action before and seen the end product it's FIRE! http://edenlabs.com/processes/co2-extraction

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Yes, Eden labs is the shit when it comes to CO2 extraction. I wonder what that unit costs. If you look back in the thread you will see a pic I posted of one of their big machines. I gotta tell you though, bubble is working great for me lately. I got an Atmos raw pen and vape/smoking bubble in it is very nice IMO.

Yea I would try to evaporate some of that moisture, when I seen product out the machine it was runny too but I didn't get to see the rest of the process...maybe I can get a hold of someone and ask for you here sometime soon. My buddy brought me some bho he made and wanted it into a oil but we had to buy 5 gallons of polyethylene glycol at $109. That's all they sell it in I couldn't just get a gallon so I have tons of it left over. Maybe I can try and make some bubble and convert it to an oil, I also have an atmos.

They go anywhere from $25000 to $175000.

I am currently heating the Co2 in my vessel, holding the pressure / temp constant for several hours, then dumping to a lower pressure chamber to separate the oil from the CO2. I am watchinga few different compressors on ebay and am getting ready to convert it to a recirculating system.

Here is some of the oil I've made

That looks pretty good, usually the co2 oil I get is runny. I'll get the vile and rub it against my rolling paper or blunt it's the ish! But to dab I'll freeze it for a while, just enough for it to get thick.

Here is an old picture of the pressure chamber just to keep discussion going. Don't mind the DIA Parking Cone . . . lol

That oil was heated on a hotplate to thicken it up slightly. My most recent batch is a more opaque brown and is runny. I'll post up some pics in a bit.

Gutray said:

Here is an old picture of the pressure chamber just to keep discussion going. Don't mind the DIA Parking Cone . . . lol

View attachment 2888193

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++rep.

Right on man! That is exactly what I was envisioning. What's the leftover product look like that comes out when you clean the chamber? The oil looks great to me bro. Wow. I'm impressed, very clean design. You're making me want to build my own . I'm only a decent stainless welder, but I've got a guy with a shop out by Brush who used to work with me who's a virtuoso high alloy tig welder.

I am not a welder myself, I had a friend with access to a facility weld this up for me. His guy was ASME certified for pressure vessels, so it worked out nicely. So who all on here has tried running their own CO2 process? I haven't really found many others that have tried this yet, but sounds like there is at least one or two of you here.

So here is the product inside of the collection chamber, before it is scraped out



And here is the oil immediately after scraping and putting into a container This is about 5 grams.