Butane andResidual Solvents inMedical Cannabis
Flowers andConcentrates using theSRI 8610CFIDGC
Solvents used tomake cannabis
extractions commonly include:
Butane
IsopropanalAlcohol
Acetone
Ethyl Alcohol (Ethanol)
Methyl Alcohol (Methanol)
PetroleumEther
And in some cases
Naphtha
or
even
Gasoline
(which contains
hazardous chemicals
likeBen-
zene, Toluene,
and
Xylene
, also
known as
BTEX
).
Many types of columns couldbe
used to separate thesemolecules,
but SRI suggests a15meterMXT-
1with a5micron film thickness
and .53mm id. This column can
distinguish between solvents like
pentaneandhexane anddoes a
good jobof separating terpene
molecules.
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SRI TechSupport 310-214-5092
The residual solvent analysis canalsobe performedon theMXT-500 col-
umn that comes standardwith thePotencyGC, but the separationof vola-
tilehydrocarbonswill not beas good. For the best separation of terpene
molecules, a30meterMXT-Wax is recommendedbut solvent separation
will not beas good, andbuying the columnwill bemoreexpensive.As
with all GCanalysis, theoperatormust decidewhat compounds aremost
important todetect and select the proper column accordingly.
