Archenemy_6
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Steam distillation
So I'm very new to chemistry in general but I've always been fascinated by it and wanted to try it out for a while. I purchased a steam distillation
kit last week and have been trying it out. This kit comes with a separate biomass flask in which the steam can come up through the bottom and then go
to the condenser. I've seen setups where people just add the plant material directly into the boiling flask with some water and it goes to the
condenser from there. Is there any sort of advantages to doing it one way vs the other?
[Edited on 28-1-2017 by Archenemy_6]
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violet sin
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For what it's worth, my brother just got the single pot/boiler version with condenser, and he said he wished they spent the couple bucks more for the
version you bought. He said the boil-over in his version ruined some nice cedar oil. He's not into chemistry and has basically no practice prior to
this. So his flask was quite full of cedar bits and water. It was easy to flow over into the condenser right into oil.
Also I recal him saying he thought the removal of used up wood/leaves could be easier if they didnt have to fish the stuff out of a small neck or dump
the whole boiling flask.
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Archenemy_6
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My only main complaint with my setup is the time it takes to get everything up to temp and keep it there. I have everything wrapped in foil but it
still takes a while. And also the last run I did when it didn't look like I was getting any more oil with the water I turned it off and let it cool
but when I removed the foil some of the material in the middle didn't look like it had gotten wet or done anything. Like it had been untouched.
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Db33
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it actually very much depends on what youre steam distilling. Something like rootbarks i would put seperate in the bio mass flask, but there are many
occasions where its preferred to mix the mass withwater and do it directly from 1 flask.
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