Benefits of Automated Solvent Recovery

June 13, 2024
Cannabis Solvent

Solvent Recovery

Automated solvent recovery systems are becoming essential to enhancing efficiency and environmental sustainability in cannabis operations. These systems are designed to recover and recycle solvents used in extraction processes. They use advanced technologies to monitor and control the recovery process and feature real-time data collection on solvent purity and recovery rates.

Although improved efficiency and environmental sustainability are two primary advantages of these types of systems, we’ll cover more benefits in this article.

Improves Solvent Reuse

Solvent recovery systems have integrated monitoring and filtration technologies that continuously assess and ensure solvent purity, making it suitable for reuse without compromising production quality. They can also precisely control temperature and pressure, so more of the solvent can be reclaimed.

Ensures Consistency & Control

Because these systems provide precise temperature, pressure, and flow rate control, the solvent’s quality remains uniform, maintaining the consistency of downstream products. This precise control also helps maximize the solubility of cannabinoids in the solvent and increase yield.

Automated controls also allow for real-time adjustments and continuous monitoring, reducing variability during manual operations.

Additionally, these systems contribute significantly to enhanced process control by providing detailed data analytics and reporting features. Operators can use this data to make informed decisions, identify trends, and predict potential issues before they impact the production line.

Reduces Loss

By automatically optimizing temperature and pressure settings, these systems ensure that the maximum amount of solvent vapor is condensed back into a liquid form and not lost as emissions or residue. The system’s ability to adjust processes in real time also means that it can detect changes in pressure or temperature that may lead to inefficiencies or increased solvent loss and then adjust these settings to optimize performance.

Allows for Rapid Processing

Automated solvent recovery systems can quickly process large volumes of solvents, reducing the downtime between extraction cycles. This increased throughput allows more frequent extraction runs under optimal conditions, leading to higher overall cannabinoid yields. Faster solvent recovery also means quicker turnaround times.

Minimizes Environmental Impact

An automated solvent recovery’s ability to optimize settings in real time improves operational efficiency and ensures compliance with environmental regulations concerning volatile organic compound emissions.

First, by maximizing the recovery of solvents, these systems drastically reduce the amount of solvent that needs to be disposed of as hazardous waste. Proper disposal of chemical solvents typically requires specialized, energy-intensive processes that can release pollutants into the air, water, and soil.

Secondly, automated systems help reduce the risk of solvent spills and leaks, which are common in manual operations. These spills contribute to soil and water contamination and can have devastating effects on local ecosystems. Additionally, these systems indirectly decrease the environmental degradation associated with solvent production, including resource extraction, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Lastly, the reporting capabilities of these systems allow companies to provide verifiable documentation of VOC emissions and recovery rates for audits and inspections.

Enhances Safety for End-Users

Product consistency and safety have always been a concern in cannabis operations, especially with the lack of federal oversight.

Automated solvent recovery systems are designed for closed-loop operation, where solvents are contained and recycled within the system with minimal exposure to the external environment. Maintaining a controlled environment prevents impurities and residues from compromising product purity and safety.

Additionally, because these systems can make real-time adjustments and provide better control over process variables, there will be fewer operational anomalies and deviations, which ensures more consistent product quality.

About MACH’s ASR Series Automated Solvent Recovery System

MACH Technologies’ ASR Series system can help you achieve the benefits highlighted in this article.

Our ARS system is specifically designed for ethanol. It takes incoming ethanol from an extraction or winterization process and produces recovered ethanol and concentrated oil streams. It can recover up to 98% of ethanol from the inlet stream and up to 20 GPH of continuous recovery. It features an incoming buffer holding tank, solvent evaporation and condensing columns, automatic controls for fluid levels, pressure, and temperature, and variable speed drive sanitary pumps.

Improve Process Efficiency With Help From MACH Technologies

MACH Technologies is a turnkey manufacturer specializing in cannabis extraction equipment. In addition to engineering and developing high-quality systems, we provide value-added services like installation and general implementation advice, technical support and repairs, and on-site training.

Please contact us today to learn more about our fully automated solvent recovery system, or visit our blog for more resources.

Posted in Extraction Equipment