Hydrocarbon storage tanks are more important to your botanical extraction processes than you’d think!
Extraction companies that invest in higher-quality storage tanks often have far greater success in hydrocarbon extraction. Butane and propane are flammable solvents, so spending more money on storage helps to contain the chemicals. Stainless steel tanks in particular offer a cleaner end product, better solvent recapture, and a rust-proof design.
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When you’re spending tens of thousands of dollars to design a botanical extraction lab, you might be tempted to try to save some money here and there. That’s understandable. Any processing or manufacturing facility build can stretch your bottom line.
Before you opt for subpar equipment, consider the actual science behind botanical extraction, especially processes that utilize hydrocarbons such as butane and propane. The extraction process uses these volatile solvents in a highly pressurized environment. To produce a clean final extraction and ensure the safety of your team, you must design your lab without cutting corners.
Bottom line: Botanical extraction facilities need to be outfitted with the best possible equipment for the job at hand. Anything less will lead to a poor end product, lackluster consumer interest, and a steady drop in revenue.
High-Quality Storage Tanks
If you’re working with hydrocarbons and plant material, you need high-quality storage tanks. Whether you use ethanol, CO2, or hydrocarbons like butane and propane—botanical extraction can be a highly flammable process, especially when performed in a large-scale lab setting.
Storage tanks are indispensable for all extraction methods, and Highpoint by Worthington Enterprises fabricates bulk storage tanks made specifically for hydrocarbon extraction. Available in both stainless steel and carbon steel, our hydrocarbon storage tanks are purpose-built for the botanical extraction industry and optimized to hold high-purity solvents.
Designing your extraction facility without high-quality storage tanks is like putting a car on the road without tires. You will not get very far!
Still not convinced? That’s okay! We know financial concerns can create hesitancy. That’s why we put together this list of reasons to invest in higher-quality storage tanks.
1. Cleaner End Product
At the end of the day, the point of extracting botanical elements from raw plant material is to end up with a product that turns passive consumers into active, loyal customers. One surefire way to accomplish that goal is to send a clean, quality product into the world.
Higher-quality bulk storage tanks are an important factor in botanical extraction cleanliness. Maintaining purity in your hydrocarbon solvents ensures that the raw plant material’s full spectrum of compounds is fully preserved. Preserved compounds equal a higher-grade product that’s more potent and ultimately, more marketable. Stainless steel storage tanks, which represent the upper echelon of storage tanks, are better at getting rid of residual solvents than any other material.
This characteristic prevents the build-up of contaminants for an improved end product.
2. Solvent Recapture
Costs add up in an extraction facility. That includes hydrocarbon solvents, which you will need to have in steady supply. Butane and propane hydrocarbons are used to “wash” raw plant materials and extract the precious compounds for use in botanical products.
But one run through the extraction process doesn’t spoil your solvents. High-end storage tanks enable solvent recapture. This recovery process allows you to recycle solvents for reuse.
The process of solvent recovery consists of a multi-stage distillation to separate the solvents into its components at a temperature lower than boiling point. Lesser storage tanks aren’t equipped to handle this task.
3. Rust Free
If you want to maintain purity in your product, you have to use storage tanks that won’t rust. High-end stainless steel storage tanks are built to prevent the build up of rust, corrosion, and other contaminants.
In fact, resistance to corrosion is what makes stainless steel so unique and desirable in the world of manufacturing. Stainless steel tanks resist rust in all environments, including extraction facilities. This anti-rust superpower comes from chromium, which forms a protective shield against rust-producing oxygen.
4. Made in America
History is an important indicator of quality. Highpoint by Worthington Enterprises has manufactured steel in Ohio for the last 65 years. During our rich history, we’ve delivered innovative solutions for customers in many industries including transportation, construction, industrial, agriculture, retail, and energy.
And now, we’ve brought our experience as North America’s premier steel processor and producer of laser-welded products to the world of botanical extraction. Our hydrocarbon storage tanks are made in America, and each one adheres to strict standards and regulations.
5. ASME Certified
When working to process and contain highly flammable solvents, it’s vital that you engage with storage tanks that earn an array of certifications. One of the most prized certifications comes from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, better known as ASME.
ASME assigns a set of safety regulations that botanical extraction facilities must follow. For starters, there’s ASME B31.3, a code that specifies the design requirements of high-pressure pipes, which ensures all of your lab’s components can withstand the pressures involved in botanical extraction. There’s also ASME BPVC Sect. V111, Div. 1, which calculates the thickness of pressure vessels operating at pressures that exceed 15 psi, as well as the integrity of connections in pipes and various reinforcements.
6. Safety and Compliance
Moving forward in the world of safety regulations, investing more money in hydrocarbon storage tanks means you will get extraction vessels that are fully compliant and safe for you and your team members to operate. In order to be safety-compliant, bulk storage tanks must be contained in a Class 1 Division 1 (C1D1) extraction booth/room.
A C1D1 compliant environment helps prevent fires, explosions, damage to products, and injuries to team members. Not only is it important to protect humans, but safety compliance also prevents you from flushing money down the drain with costly rebuilds.
Invest in Highpoint Storage Tanks
It’s hard to overstate the importance of staying safe with bulk storage of your hydrocarbon solvents. When you make a hefty monetary investment in designing a lab that archives your throughput goals, the last thing you want is to find out that a slightly higher initial investment could have saved you financial and regulatory headaches down the road.
It might be difficult to invest more in storage tanks when first configuring your extraction lab, but there’s plenty of evidence demonstrating this indisputable fact: A marginally bigger spend on equipment has the potential to spark revenue growth down the road.
