Several contributing factors come together in perfect harmony to create an IES extractor: world class production facilities, quality driven good manufacturing practices, industry-leading flowrates, full automation, proprietary software, and much more. But what truly sets IES apart from other CO2 extractors is our ability to achieve perfect process stability during an extraction.
Extracting with CO2 is one of the purest ways to pull oil out of raw, organic material. CO2 is naturally occurring, inexpensive, and is less dangerous than other solvents traditionally used for extraction.
However, perhaps the most enticing aspect of using CO2 for extraction is its versatility.
CO2 has 4 phases: Solid, Liquid, Gas, and Supercritical Fluid. Two of these phases (Liquid and SCF) have ideal solvency properties – meaning you can use either state of aggregation to extract oil. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. You can also change the density of the CO2 in either phase, which creates a multitude of possible extraction recipes. What truly takes extracting with IES’ CO2 equipment to the next level is how to manipulate – and maintain – the density of the CO2.
The solvent density of CO2 changes based on the specific pressure and temperature conditions it exists in.
Examples:
If the pressure of the CO2 is 1250psi and the temperature of the CO2 is 20c, the solvent density is 837kg/m3
If the pressure of the CO2 is 1180psi and the temperature of the CO2 is 42c, the solvent density is 290 kg/m3
Generally speaking, the denser the CO2, the more aggressive its solvency properties will be. There are numerous reasons why an extraction technician may want high solvent density just as there are numerous reasons why a lower density may be ideal – it all depends on what your target extract is. This is where IES Extraction equipment truly shines.
Since we service a wide range of customers, the desired output can vary drastically. Some people may want to run a very low density at a supercritical state, others may want to run a high density at a subcritical state. No matter what parameters you choose, it’s important that they remain consistent throughout the extraction. Too much variance in either temperature or pressure can change the density of the CO2, and subsequently the quality of the extract. If each extraction features unpredictable fluctuations in the parameters, then it’s very likely that each batch of extracted oil will be different. Clearly that is not ideal for a company trying to establish consistent product.
If you want to isolate and extract certain compounds, while leaving the undesirables in the biomass, then achieving perfect process stability is the only way to do it. If you want to pull your desired end-product straight out of the extractor, then using an IES CO2 extractor is the only way to go.
Find out more at Isolate Extraction Systems