Hey, trying to decide on what a good size soxhlet extractor would be. I've never seen one in person so I'm having a hard time visualize the capacity of the extractor body. If I'm going to be working with around 100g to 300g of material would something with an upper joint of 70/51 or 60/45 "1000ml soxhlet" be good. I don't want it to big or to small, but just right

Just take the joint that fits your cooler.

Take your desired extraction amount and put it into a beaker to see which volume you need.

Make sure to use filter paper or a soxhlet cartridge so you dont clog your new labware.

Soxhlet glassware is dimensioned in terms of volume, not weight. In your case, thoroughly soak the desired weight of extractables in the solvent that you will be using in the soxhlet (wetted materials tend to be more voluminous than dry poweders.) This sets the lower boundary for the extractor size.

As Ulim already wrote, choose a cooler that fits the extractor.

Finally, you'll need a boiling flask that is capable of holding at least twice the amount of solvent that the extractor can hold. The form of the flask should best fit your heating apparatus. It could be a round bottom flask, or a flat bottom flask (or erlenmeyer), but whatever you choose, it has to have a neck with a joint that the extractor will fit into.

Make sure that you are familiar with the risks that are involved with boiling flammable solvents before operating a soxhlet device with flammable solvents. Think ahead about the worst case scenarios and take adequate precautions. Accidents will happen and you need to be prepared when they do.

When you say cooler are you talking about the condenser? The ones I'm looking at are considered 1000ml and one is 2000ml. The problem is some of them labeled as the same volume are different dimensions. I'm thinking some of the 1000ml are referring to flask size and not extraction body size. I was hoping someone one here owned one and could give some dimensions and share some experience.

Were are talking about joint size on the condenser. Condensers are mesaured in lenght and shape and joint size not volume.
You should inform yourself at least a small bit before you ask questions. You dont even seem to know basic chemistry apparatus.

I was talking about the volume of the extractor body. I'm not worried about the condenser nor the joint size.
Thanks buddy

Ulim I didn't think to just measure the volume of the plant material I want to work with. Though the ones I'm looking at don't list the volume of the extractor body and the seller isn't so good with English. I'm just gonna have to throw down and hope it's the right size. The other ones I'm looking at come with a rbf and list a volume but I'm sure it's referring to the flask, but who knows

You dont care about joint size? Well good look trying to fit 14/24 on 24/29

Well hot-dog, you guys are pretty adamant on being rude. Yup I'm not worried about joint size because..... the extraction body comes with a condenser which has the appropriate joint size to fit the extraction body. Also ,(are you ready for this), the bottom joint of the extraction body is 24/40 which is the same joint size of almost every flask I own. So........ I'm not worried about joint size. If you notice I never said "I don't care" I said "I'm not worried". One question, can I fit a 24/29 in a 24/40? Joking, don't answer that.
People I think we got off on the wrong foot, let's forget about this and put it behind us.

You cant put a 24/29 in a 24/40 but you can do it the other way around. Its not gonna make a good seal though. Second number is the lenght of the joint first one the diameter.
Why dont you say that in the beginning Thtat its a set of condenser + extractor. You put yourself like you know nothing and we tried to help.

Just take the biggest one that fits your budget. But dont forget that you need a good pump and heat plate too or else you will take forever and loose lots of solvent.

And even if you take one thats to small you can always hot swap. Just prepare your load in small sacs of filter paper. Pull on out. Dump the other in.
Dont put the heatplate on max or you will kill the thing you are trying to extract. You can also add solvent to the condenser on top but make sure its slighty heated to avoid thermal shock.
Wrap the whole appartus in aluminum foil to save energy.

The longer you boil the more stuff you get ofc. Depending on solvent you can even begin to dissolve away at your product so dont overdo it.
Fumehood/outside if you use stuff like toluene or worse.

"Hotswap", good idea. That makes me a little less worried if it's to small. I'm just gonna take the plunge and hope it's all good.
I apriciate your input.

So the extractor arrived. Its huge! much bigger than expected. Advertised as 2l the actual volume of the extractor body is 1300ml. I have a couple questions. Some of the plant material I want to work with is very finely powdered, I had read that mixing with D.E. (diatomaceous earth) will help prevent clogging. The Only D.E. available locally is finely powdered, not sure but I don't think it will work? I have read of perlite being used as a filter aid, do you think I could use perlite in place of D.E.? Does anyone have any recommendations for D.E. Alternative, maybe granite or something similar?

Second, Would their be a problem if the extractor body was only filled about 1/4 with plant material, the size is good for most of what I want to do but I know there is going to be times where I'm not going to be working with so much material.
Any info would be appreciated

perlite would work, so would course unscented cat litter, which essentially bentonite.
i always packed sample in coffee filters, twist them up at the top with a twist-tie.

keep in mind..soxhlets are generally used with lower-boiling solvents, with low surface tension; i.e. alcohols.

Benzyme, I actually have some stuff used for baseball fields that is basically bentonite. I use it for cactus seed media, it holds alot of moisture and wasn't sure if that was a problem. I like the coffee filter idea, but I would have to use multiple filters or find larger ones.

the coffee filters work.
I've done soxhlet extractions on cocoa powder.

Only other question I have is what if the extractor body is only loaded with enough plant material to be a quarter full? Would it be best just to get a smaller one for the times I'm going to be using smaller amounts of plant material? Also I'm just curious, what solvent did you use for the cocoa powder? I'm planning on making a kratom tincture so I was going to use some 190 proof alcohol.

perfect.

sample size won't matter, though it should sit below the top port of the siphon.
I used everclear, 190 proof.

You can overcome small sample size and resultant slower syphon turnover per gram by adding inert, non-porous ballast e.g. glass marbles. Just make sure they don't block the syphon inlet! That said, you'd be better off getting a smaller one but the marbles would be cheaper.


Hmm... cocoa tincture - I really must get round to giving that a go soon. Benzyme, did you use defatted cocoa?

That's what I was wondering about. Thanks for the info

I am also interested in more details about cocoa

nope, was just standard hershey's cocoa. theobromine precipitated at room temp, as an opaque, waxy, white mass

neat, you have inspired me to make cocoa my next project. If you have any more info that would be nice. Would the alcohol pull the cocoa butter as well? If you have any suggested reading material I would also appreciate that.