I've been trying a new(?) extraction method which is kind of a "reverse a/b" extraction. It starts with an STB though, so I decided to post it here. If someone has already posted a similar method, then I apologize, but I actually did figure this out by myself.
Here it is in a nutshell:
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1. basify the bark with NaOH. Extract with a large amount of heavy aliphatic naphtha to get max. amount of alkaloids out.
2. Mix 1g citric acid per 100g of bark into 100ml water. Add the citric acid solution to the extracted heavy naphtha, shake and let separate a few times until the water/acid solution turns yellow. Separate the layers into 2 jars.
3. Now take the same amount of NaOH, maybe a few grams extra to be sure, as you used citric acid, and dissolve it in 100ml water. Then mix this with the jar with the water and DMT citrate to basify the spice again. Then extract again with a light naphtha and freeze precipitate.
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The idea here is, that the heavy aliphatic naphtha is good for pulling the spice from the bark, but it's worthless for precipitation, and even evaporating takes a long time (also evaporation of it tends to result in a sort of goo, with plant fats and whatnot).
Now a light aliph. naphtha is good for precipitation, but it tends to pull less spice. So I devised this method of first pulling with heavy naphtha, then extracting the alkaloids from the heavy naphtha (and exluding plant fats) by citric acid/water solution, then basifying again and extracting the alkaloids from it with light naphtha. The last step might be unnecessary though, since the spice should in theory precipitate out from the water as soon as you basify it again. I have yet to try it that way though.
A result of this method is now in the final phase, that is, in the freezer. So far it seems to be working, and by the looks of it, I've never had so much spice in so little amount of naphtha with a standard STB. (Of course, the amount of heavier naphtha I used was larger, this is due to heavy naphtha being cheaper and easier to get than the light one, around here).
I might be able to post some pictures later.
Here it is in a nutshell:
--
1. basify the bark with NaOH. Extract with a large amount of heavy aliphatic naphtha to get max. amount of alkaloids out.
2. Mix 1g citric acid per 100g of bark into 100ml water. Add the citric acid solution to the extracted heavy naphtha, shake and let separate a few times until the water/acid solution turns yellow. Separate the layers into 2 jars.
3. Now take the same amount of NaOH, maybe a few grams extra to be sure, as you used citric acid, and dissolve it in 100ml water. Then mix this with the jar with the water and DMT citrate to basify the spice again. Then extract again with a light naphtha and freeze precipitate.
--
The idea here is, that the heavy aliphatic naphtha is good for pulling the spice from the bark, but it's worthless for precipitation, and even evaporating takes a long time (also evaporation of it tends to result in a sort of goo, with plant fats and whatnot).
Now a light aliph. naphtha is good for precipitation, but it tends to pull less spice. So I devised this method of first pulling with heavy naphtha, then extracting the alkaloids from the heavy naphtha (and exluding plant fats) by citric acid/water solution, then basifying again and extracting the alkaloids from it with light naphtha. The last step might be unnecessary though, since the spice should in theory precipitate out from the water as soon as you basify it again. I have yet to try it that way though.
A result of this method is now in the final phase, that is, in the freezer. So far it seems to be working, and by the looks of it, I've never had so much spice in so little amount of naphtha with a standard STB. (Of course, the amount of heavier naphtha I used was larger, this is due to heavy naphtha being cheaper and easier to get than the light one, around here).
I might be able to post some pictures later.
