Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Caffeine extraction by butane/propane

kecskesajt - 12-10-2015 at 07:14

Hello everybody!

I was thinking about caffeine extraction.I don't have acces to DCM nor supercritical CO2(I dont think CO2 canisters would work)
I looked up on YT started to watch documentaries,and then. There was a video about BHO.I watched it and the guy extracted THC by butane.

Looked up on the Google for the same. But insted of cannabis, with ground coffee. Found a patent where you can use butane/propane.
So I was thinking about this method.
in medias res: Has anyone tried it? Can I use the same method as THC extraction? (a pipe,a rag,and a thick testtube/iron pipe)

j_sum1 - 12-10-2015 at 14:40

One way to find out.

Seriously though, I would go for a more conventional solvent. Tour the paint thinner section of your hardware store and find something to distill.

Ozone - 12-10-2015 at 17:32

Butane is likely a crummy solvent for caffeine. You may get some caffeine, but you will certainly extract most of the oily components (probably most of the coffee flavor).

Some years ago, I extracted pecans with liquid propane (in a pressurized pipe). Once the propane boiled off--lovely pecan oil. Only the meal remained.

So, I'd treat it, solvent-wise (selectivity and solvent strength), like any other non-polar hydrocarbon you might get--like hexane.

O3

[Edited on 13-10-2015 by Ozone]

kecskesajt - 12-10-2015 at 20:18

Thank everybody for the anwsers!
j_sum1 : DCM is banned in the EU,all i have acces is 99.99% DCM wich has a price 20$/liter :o :mad:

UC235 - 12-10-2015 at 20:32

$20/L is really not bad for lab solvents... Can you get ethyl acetate which works well and is considerably less toxic?

The upside of caffeine is that is is moderately water soluble (considerably so in hot water) and it's probably much easier to make a very strong cup of tea or coffee and isolate caffeine from the cooled solution. Using water as an intermediate excludes oily material that nonpolar solvents would readily remove along with caffeine if you were extracting the solid material directly.

[Edited on 13-10-2015 by UC235]

kecskesajt - 13-10-2015 at 05:57

Quote: Originally posted by UC235  
$20/L is really not bad for lab solvents... Can you get ethyl acetate which works well and is considerably less toxic?

The upside of caffeine is that is is moderately water soluble (considerably so in hot water) and it's probably much easier to make a very strong cup of tea or coffee and isolate caffeine from the cooled solution. Using water as an intermediate excludes oily material that nonpolar solvents would readily remove along with caffeine if you were extracting the solid material directly.

[Edited on 13-10-2015 by UC235]

Keep in mind: I'm a student and I don't have much money for chemistry.Ethyl Alcohol and acetone is about 4 $ for a liter. DCM, compared to those solvents, its quite expensive.
I will try butane extraction when its weekend.