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We are proud to announce that CF Tech had our first three pressure vessels stamped today with the CF Tech ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel certification! This is a task that has been sourced for some time, it's great to see our hard work, intense studies of the code and requirements pay off. The first three vessels will become part of a pilot scale extraction of a natural agricultural product by supercritical CO2. There is an extractor, separator and storage tank. The sizes and pressure varied from 1,500 psi to 4,500 psi and 1 liter to 40 liters.
Our next two vessels up for stamping later this month will be 10,000 and 15,000 psi, 500 ml. Can't wait to add these 5 vessels to our current offerings. Please contact us for a quote!
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We are so excited to partner with Hyde Park Main Streets on their annual Fundraiser to raise awareness and money for their community efforts. If you are interested in attending, tickets can be purchased here. We are excited to show off our historical building at Westinghouse Plaza, as well as draw some attention from the community about potential programs for the revitalization of old warehouses and attracting new and exciting tenants. The party will take place on our warehouse floor. This community project is important to our business and owners as the business has been located in Hyde Park for 23 years and have employed over 50 individuals in that time; the owner of the company was born and raised in Hyde Park, and enjoys the community dynamics and is proud to be part of this event. Hope to see you on September 26th!  We are in the midst of an important time in the history of CO2 extraction. The industry is blossoming with recognition and thought of as a mainstream technology. Medical marijuana (MMJ) started this trend into the mainstream, a safe extraction option in a field that was dominated by the dangers and carelessness of butane extraction. The legalization of MMJ, and recreational use in states like Washington, have brought the use of Supercritical Extraction to the forefront in safe extraction. Although the technology is not new, it is becoming more well known. While we are here in Seattle for opportunity, we see a state that is changing, proactively and positively through safety and health. Keep it up Seattle!
CO2 Extraction and fractionation of cannabis can be used to separate the "high" effect fraction from the medicine. Many different desirable extraction separations can be designed with adjusting operating parameters, flavors, effects, scents, colors, viscosity and clarity. It seems like one of our major aspirations in the field is coming true... the desire for 1000 bar supercritical CO2 experimental programs and systems to gain popularity. Never have we received so many orders and requests for quotes and systems as we are right now. The ability to do testing on a 1000 bar system has become very attractive to a myriad of markets - health store high concentrates and pure substances, pharmaceuticals, hops, medical marijuana and hemp; and current production clients looking to increase their pressures to investigate extraction results at more extreme conditions. Can they do it faster, is it more efficient, are there high valuables that they are missing out on? Likely, the answer to all of these questions is YES! After years of 1000 bar in house experimental programs, we couldn't be happier... we knew it would catch on! Let us know in the comments section if you have any ideas about what we should extract next! What have you tried to extract at 1000 psi?
Good News! We have successfully purchased Unit 8 at the Westinghouse Plaza Complex, after being a tenant at the site for 20 years. We are cleaning out the space and putting the space up for rent ASAP. Please let us know if you are interested. There is a large open space getting cleaned up and freshly painted, 12,000 sq feet warehouse with high bay, lots of sunlight and small office and mezzanine storage space.
In my opinion, this would be a perfect location for a new craft brewery. CF Tech has experience working with hops extractions, and supplying equipment to hops extract manufacturers. We are good taste testers too! Or, after all this snow and T issues, maybe we should offer the space to the MBTA with our high ceilings, they could move in and build some new Red Line trains! Some of the past tenants of this space have been ambulance storage and mechanics; restaurant appliance and equipment sales; an artist sculptor among others. Check back soon for photos of the available space! Is it time for seasonal winter ales yet?!? I think yes, at least here at CF Tech. November brought us many days of SCCO2 hops extraction testing... which, as you can imagine, perfumes the lab and surrounding areas (shop & office), just like your favorite IPA. Hops are always interesting and fun to experiment with around here, as most everyone knows a thing or two about the end product: beer. But it's harder to imagine the small, flagrant, flowers becoming an extract to replace the very things we all see on brew tours, the hops themselves. Even if you are a home brewer, it's probably uncommon for you to be familiar with hops extract, as pelletized hops are abundant and available at your local craft brew supplier.
In this round of hops experiments, we fractionated the extract. We found that the extract starts off as a thick oil, and gets progressively thicker and stickier as the experiment continues. Towards the end of the test, the extract is so sticky and thick that we have to use high heat and a lab spatula to complete the draining of the separation vessel. The feedstock residue is left with no scent after the completion of the test cycle, the extract took it all! This Thanksgiving, when you are lazing around after your too big meal, sipping on your favorite beer, maybe think to do a little research and find out if your favorite beer company uses hops or hops extract. Let me know in the comments section what you find out! Two of our current CO2 extraction projects are for the neutracuetical and fragrance industries. Trust me, the fragrance experiments smell much better! Although both used our go-to bench scale R&D system, the experimental programs were night and day. One of the experiments, we ran at high temperatures, 180C and high pressure, 15000psi; the second experimental program started off with high temps and high pressure, but as the testing matrix was expanded, we found, through sensory and visual testing that the preferred operating conditions was a liquid CO2, about 1200psi with the feedstock extraction vessel maintaining temperatures below 105F! CO2 extraction of natural feedstocks has so much variety and potential to extract differing compounds, oils, and value items...only tests will tell!
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Jessica Sweeney"All Around CF Tech-er" Archives
October 2023
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