Blind Angel
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Non-Polar Supercritical Fluid Alkaloid Extraction
Note: didn't knew in which forum post this so move it if doesn't fit
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Since MJ season is rapidly coming i was wondering for new ways to extract the precious alkaloid of the leave, most of my friend do it with Denat.
Alcool but i found this too exigent. So i thought about Supercritical Fluid such as butane which has a very low boiling point, thus only leaving the
alkaloid without the solvent. I did a search on google and saw that this method would work. My question is if there are other supercritical fluid that
could be used. Like CO<sub>2</sub>, but i don't know about is solvent capacity. Any idea?
[Edited on 22-8-2003 by Blind Angel]
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vulture
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High pressure CO2 is being used massively for extraction of caffein out of coffeebeans. Since coffein is an alkaloid too, it should work perfectly.
One shouldn't accept or resort to the mutilation of science to appease the mentally impaired.
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Nick F
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"Since MJ season is rapidly coming i was wondering for new ways to extract the precious alkaloid of the leave"
What is MJ?
The only thing I can think of would be marajuana, but that contains no alkaloids...
I doubt it matters though (if that is what you are talking about), since the extraction techniques in question are not alkaloid-specific.
Also, the common method of extracting things with liquid butane in PVC pipe is not supercritical extraction, just normal solvent extraction.
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Blind Angel
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Butane is a supercritical fluid since it's liquid due to the pression inside the can, it cool once expeled. In my previous post i meant with the
help of supercritical fluid. And for THC, Sorry it's my error.
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JustMe
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Interesting question. Regarding this -ahem- controversial subject, the following is given for informational purposes only.
The BEST solvent for extraction is Chloroform (if you can get it). The second best is Petroleum Ether (ditto), plus it is VERY flammable. Given that
Petrol Ether is just a mixture of alkanes, and Butane is an alkane, it would seem to make sense that it would be nearly as good a solvent. I
don't know personally if it would be... just my 2¢.
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NERV
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I have done some minor experiments with both CO2 and butane. I found that they both extracted the precious THC from the MJ leaf. I also used them to
extract caffeine from coffee beans, which also worked well. I found that it was better to use butane, as CO2 is more expensive (at least for me it
was), and it didn’t seem to extract the substance per amount of CO2 used as well as the butane. That probably has to do with the fact that it has a
lower boiling point though. My apparatus for doing the extractions is currently taken apart though, geuss I need to put it back together for MJ season
Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur.
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Nick F
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"supercritical: Being at a temperature and pressure above the critical temperature and pressure. In a condition neither liquid nor gaseous."
Thus if the butane is liquid, it isn't supercritical. My physics teacher once showed us an experiment in which some liquid CO2 in a sealed glass
tube was warmed with a hair-drier. As it got warmer, you could see the liquid/gas boundary become sort of fuzzy, and less well-defined, and then it
disappeared altogether, since at that temperature the CO2 could not be liquified under any amount of pressure. It was supercritical. So I suppose it
is gaseous, so that definition I found is flawed, but it's a gas that is as dense as a liquid.
Not just a gas that is liquified under pressure.
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Blind Angel
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Thx for the info Nick F, i thouhgt that supercritical fluid where simply gas that were liquid at a higher temperature than their boiling point due to
the pression. We should modify the Topic of this post.
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Marvin
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Quite right Nick, its a gas above its critical point, compressed to the sort of density it would have if it were a liquid.
The critical pressure usually (for a range of sane temperatures) puts a gas in the same area as its liquid density, so this is the real requirement,
but the statement above makes more sense.
Something I find interesting, is the only difference between a liquid and a gas, the only one, is that a liquid is allowed to partially occupy its
container. Thats it.
Its not about density, which is just a matter of pressure/temperature, its not about the way liquids refract light which is just a matter of density
(of the substance), its not about the ability to dissolve, which is just density and temperature.
Come to think of it, its probably the only thing I found interesting for a whole year of physical chemistry.
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vulture
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Well, in the case of CO2 the extraction of caffein is carried out under supercritical circumstances, because CO2 becomes an extremely good solvent
when supercritical.
IIRC, the pressure used is 3100bar, so not really for the home experimenter...
One shouldn't accept or resort to the mutilation of science to appease the mentally impaired.
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Marvin
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An added bonus is that becuase you can control density as well as temperature, you can control the properties of the solvent, relative amounts of what
it will and wont dissolve. This gives an extra dimention of control you dont have with liquids.
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