Here is an eco-friendly spice TEK SWIM developed. It is a modification of a TEK learned long ago from a long lost friend. I lost his contact, so I hope he is fine with me posting this. I think he is so lets send him mental credits too. I haven't been in the NEXUS the last year a lot and haven't read about all the new TEK's like BLAB yet so maybe it's a bit outdated and/or excessive.
Still I'd like to post it. Suggestions are more than welcome.

What is called natural is debatable, the acid and base can be replaced as you like, but the most important is no petro's involved


1. Soak the MHRB in a solution made PH 3 using citric acid. SWIM usually just covers the MHRB with H2O. Let it stand for about an hour and a half and give a good stir every now and then. Filter and repeat 2 more times for a total of 3 extractions.

2. Slowly add Lime Ca(OH2) to the tea while stirring untill solution turns black. It will go from reddish to greyish to black.

3. Add Limonene, about 10% of the total volume. Move it around a bit taking care not to create an emulsion. A round barrel is good for this, you can roll it around on the floor slowly for about an hour. Separate the Limonene (Siphoning is mostly easiest). If emulsion does appear it can help to 'sprinkle' Lime on the foamy part while moving it around slowly.

4. Wash the Limonene with a solution of Washing Soda to defat. Use about 25% of the total volume of Limonene, separate and repeat once for a total of 2 washings. Discard Soda solution. (When doing the modification of this TEK which I will explain later the defatting can be done in another stage)

5. Make a strong acidic solution using HCl, vinegar or citric acid about PH 3. Make about 10% of the total volume of Limonene used. Shake it very good for about 10-15 minutes and separate the watery bit. It will turn yellow/orange to almost red when done (depending how fat it is). Wash the Limone with a solution of Lime to remove leftover acid from the Limonene (a little amount is enough so you don't really have to separate). Now repeat step 3-5 using same Limonene for a total of 3 extractions. Combine all orange watery parts.

6. Make a saturated solution of H2O and Lime. Slowly add this while stirring to the watery part of step 5. Continue untill no more precipitation appears. Let it rest for some time.

7. When your lucky, an oily layer will appear on top of your solution and the watery part clears. You can Siphon off this oily layer. Wash with some H2O to remove Lime residue. Put this oily part in a bowl and this will slowly crystallize out. Enjoy and safe travels!

If not lucky the oil doesn't float on top but will be around the jar, sticking to the side and maybe some on top and some on the bottom. And/or after putting the oil in a bowl it doesn't really crystallize. Offcourse, with the help from the people on the forum we can find out how we can always be lucky. Mostly has to do with proper defatting. When not lucky, take a look a the modification of this TEK.


MODIFICATION

So, you have your oil from step 7 all around your jar. There are 2 things you can do now.

1. Try to separate as much water out as you can, siphoning. Pour this solution through a very fluffy material like a (clean!) towel. All the oil will stick to the towel. Let this dry out. Dissolve in ETOH and let it evaporate or put on herbs for Changa.

2. Add some fresh Limonene to this solution, just enough to dissolve all oily bits. Separate and let it evaporate. (Takes a long time)
When choosing this step, you can also do the defatting part (step 4) here. This can also be done if your alk-oil in the bowl didn't crystallize nicely for some extra defatting.

MODIFICATION 2. (Not 'Natural'!)

This step can also be done to safe the oil from step 7. Or to make very clear crystals. This step DOES involve Petro's.

In step 7, do not separate the oil from the water, but add about 33% of total amount of Petroleum-Ether on top. Heat the solution while stirring for about 20 minutes. The PE should be just boiling/simmering. Separate PE, when done properly you will see cascades of white precipitate appear just above the surface when tilted. Repeat twice for a total of 3 extractions. Let the PE cool down to room temperature. It will push out any oils first. Keep a close eye on it. When the PE turnes clear and no more oils come out, or crystallisation begins, pour in bowl and put in the freezer. When possible add some seeding crystals. Go away, have fun and forget about it. Come back next day and be happy with your beautifull crystal landscape on the bottom of the bowl.

Good Luck!

Suggestion: Dont use calcium hydroxide as you are using. What kind of yields are you getting? Calcium hydroxide should only be used in dry teks because of its poor water solubility, otherwise better use lye, or sodium carb only if its an a/b (but emulsions might be big problem).

No need to wash the limonene after salting with acidic solution if you are reusing the limonene, any small amounts of acid will be neutralized when adding back to the base mimosa soup.

I really suggest checking out BLAB tek, as well as other dry teks that use limonene such as amor fati's or q21's.

Anyways thanks for sharing

Thanks for the info,

SWIM's experience is that powdered Lime easily gets the H2O to ph 12. It works ok. Usually SWIM also uses Lye, but for an all 'natural' way uses Lime. You think Lime reduces the yield? SWIM usually gets around 1% unpurified, and around 0,6% when purified with PE. Is that very low?

Also I read another remark from you that the Soda wash isn't a defat, it does help with creating a nicer product... What would you suggest for defatting in that stage?

I will take a look at the BLAB and see where the future is going to!

Peace

Interesting about the lime you are using.. Well NaOH can be found in foodsafe where I live, its used for adjusting pH in food production, conserving olives, etc. Of course its still caustic just the same but it will not be in your final product anyways so imo nothing to worry.

In any case I like that you're experimenting, I think its good we have as many options as possible. Where is your bark from? I think 1% is ok yield but I do think you could get more if you have very good bark. Maybe just once try doing it dry tek with your calcium hydroxide, or doing a lye tek with same bark and same amount, just so you see if you can get something more out of it.

As for washing soda, it does help cleaning, as I said, from some polar impurities. I think its cool to do it. All I mean is that it wont really get rid of too many oils. Defatting is done when the plant is in acidic phase, but a salting step is anyways basically like a defatting. Extra defatting appart from that is unnecessary imo, specially if its mimosa being extracted.

In my experience the best is to get fumaric acid. With fumaric acid you can get a crystalline pure product using this "natural" tek, just salt with FASI/FASW, keep fumarates for storage if you want or convert to freebase crystals as its explained in the end of BLAB tek with the fumarate conversion.

Thanks again, it's very fun and usefull talking with you.

SWIM would certainly like to try a dry TEK like BLAB. They look very elegant. Reading about them a hypothetical TEK based mostly on an idea a friend once had came into my mind. You could Base the MHRB soup, Limonene on top, and in that layer of Limonene hang inside a bowl with acidified water. Let a lot of time do it's thing. Then take out your dish, let it dry for internal use or FB, seperate oil and let it crystalize (hopefully) for smoking. Good for the extremely lazy, you can do all in one jar and just put it away. Also, having 1 jar smelling like oranges wouldn't 'bother' anyone.

Peace