How to Choose the Right CO2 Extractor?

As you can imagine, not all supercritical CO2 extractors are made the same.

For more than 30 years, we have customized many CO2 extraction machines for many companies and university laboratories. Because each customer's CO2 extraction process requirements are different, there are almost no identical machines.

The materials and technology used to make a CO2 extraction machine can contribute to the quality of the machine itself, and how effective that particular machine is for your intended purpose.

EXTRACTION VESSEL SIZE

The first factor that determines the size of the CO2 extraction vessel is the daily working hours of the plant, which determines the daily extraction batch.

It is important to choose the right vessel size that will meet your current needs as well as future demand. Most extractors are expandable but require downtime and additional investment. A smaller system will come with a 5 L vessel, which will process about 2 1/2 pounds per run with eight runs per day. After a 5 L vessel, the size jumps to 20 liters, which will process 10 pounds per run with six runs per day. From 20 Liters, you can obtain 40, 60, 100, and beyond. After 100 liters, you will be installing industrial size equipment with virtually limitless volume production.

HOW MUCH BIOMASS WILL YOU PROCESS PER DAY?

This ties directly back to the correlation between footprint and extraction throughput.

The fact of the matter is that extractors vary greatly in their processing capabilities. A supercritical CO2 extractor can range from a biomass processing capability of 0.1 pounds all the way up to 1000 pounds and beyond.

HOW MANY EXTRACTION VESSELS WILL BE USED?

Supercritical supercritical co2 extractors can have three structural forms, single extraction vessel, double extraction vessel, and triple extraction vessel.

Single extraction vessel: This structure is usually used for laboratory or home extraction (small co2 extraction machine). If we extract a batch of CBD oil for 2 hours, the CO2 extractor with a single container structure needs a minimum of 3 hours, because it requires additional equipment. loading and unloading process. At the same time, after the extraction process, the CO2 gas in the container must be discharged into the air, which wastes a part of the gas(small CO2 extraction machines are usually not equipped with a CO2 recovery system).

Dual extraction vessel: Commercial CO2 extraction machine. Two extraction containers work alternately: one container is extracting, and the other container is resting and waiting after filling.

The CO2 in the container after the extraction work is completed will be transferred to the waiting container, thereby reducing the use of gas and saving the cost of extraction.

Taking the extraction of CBD oil as an example, if each batch takes 2 hours, then 12 batches can be extracted in 24 hours, which is a highly efficient CO2 extraction machine.

Triple extraction vessels: industrial supercritical carbon dioxide extraction machine. Two extraction containers work, and the third container rests and waits after filling.

Taking the extraction of CBD oil as an example, if each batch takes 2 hours, then 23 batches can be extracted within 24 hours, with high efficiency and high machine cost.