SWIM is pondering the benefit of defatting a cactus extract before proceeding with an A/B process - using something like Xylene for instance. It seems this would remove a bunch of unwanted material, and thin out the liquid making it easier to pass through separating funnels and vacuum lines.

SWIM as seen several cactus TEKs that don't involve defatting (and a few that do), and was just wondering what others thought on the topic.

One thing that SWIM doesn't know is whether alkaloids are carried off with the oils, resulting in lower yields. SWIM is new to A/B extractions, and not very experienced with chemistry, but sure appreciates the education he's receiving here.

hrrmmm, that seems unnecessary. I believe the interesting cacti are already pretty slim. Have you had problems with overweight cacti before?

ouro

a good working knoledge of how alkaloid behave is important before proceeding.
knowing for example, that salt forms of a particular alkaloid are/or aren't soluable in np solovents comes before general extraction technique

but, to not be too big of a dick(i know i can be an ass!)-- Welcome to the Nex!

and,
sure, go ahead and de-fat if you like, and if your method requires it.
most methods avoid this extra step..

Thanks guys. One of the TEKs that includes this step was posted here by Murple.

SWIM has been doing a lot of reading over the past few weeks (mostly at nexus) and thinks he is ready for an experiment. He'll probably try the defatting step, if for no other reason than to see what happens. This being his first try, it's more about the learning experience than anything else.

murples tek will work, no doubt. and defatting in a/b extraction is a common practice in many extractions.

for many salting/crystalization methods, defatting is probably a very good idea.

the problem is releasing all the chlorphyl, pigments, plant sugars etc. for the defatting solovent being used(usually the same one used later in extraction, but not always)
this means hours of basically making tea before extraction process. which adds a lot of time and energy to the extraction.

if there was no way to clean or refine the extract after the evap step of murples tek, then defatting is not a bad idea

note:
if emulsions during defat occur, dont worry, they will be absorbed by the np during base step