I'm doing a soxhlet of raw cacao using 150 proof alcohol.

My partner is trying to see how dry he can get some ethanol.   Neither of us drink (alcohol)... 
 
His setup is really cool so I thought I'd take a couple of pics.  He's got a long column filled with steel wool attached to a vigreux then a long condenser and it's a very sloooooowww drip drip of stuff coming out, so we'll be up most of the night although he's calculating how much mol sieve he'd need - that stuff don't work too well.  Has a tendency to contaminate with some kind of dust.  Also got a shot of the power controller he's using to - it's got more pieces and parts to it that he pulled from various ebay finds.  It's a eurotherm and he's pretty happy with it.


salat

He does do things well!!  (he's as neat as I'm messy - we're planning on spending the rest of our lives driving each other nuts)  This is the nicest setup I've ever seen him do, I got to watch the steam build slowly up the column.  I've never used a vigreux so it's cool to see one in action.

He's done a bunch of stuff with the mol sieve, apparently it is normally a bit dusty.

salat

Looks like yall had a productive night. Very nice work salat. I really like the lattice work that the clamps screw on to.If you could be so nice to tell me the technical name of it(the lattice) I would be grateful.   I did soxhlet extraction the other day and am embarrassed to post my set up after seeing you at work but I guess I will. I hope it is appropriate to post pics in your forum if not my apologies. If it counts I believe I did mine on Saturday as well.

That's not me.... That's my husband's set up he's been doing chemistry since he was a kid - he built the table and mounts himself and used fisher poles and standard clamps.  We use T-slot a lot - you can get it on ebay from 8020 garage sale really reasonably.  It's like an erector set scaled up.   The 6061 aluminum is really easy to work with compared to most metals - you can drill it with a standard drill and we cut it with a chop saw.  They also sell scrap pieces of aluminum that you can build connector plates with.  If you have a drill press and some patience you could make some really cheaply.  I even managed to make some and my precision/hand eye coordination sucks.

Your setup is very nice - I think it's fun to share pics of stuff - you get ideas and learn from it.  Anybody else have any problems with soxhlet's backing up etc?  I put an inch of scrubbie (like you clean grills with) in the bottom of mine because nothing else worked and I didn't want to use a thimble (frit is hard to clean).

http://cgi.ebay.com/8020-Aluminum-Solid-Block-1-625-x-1-625-x-3-75-Long-/220555655272?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item335a243868
This is a piece of solid 6061 aluminum that would be usable for making clamps - probably should coat it with something to protect it from spills, stuff gets in the channels and eats reacts with the metals - unless you're my husband who is so neat he doesn't spill stuff.  It's almost dangerous for him to be teaching me chemistry because he is so good at it that he doesn't remember what newbies are like!

This is a link to 80/20's website they have a book that shows the kind of stuff you can build with it.
http://www.8020.net/

We got some good deals at skycraft surplus in Orlando - they had the lattice connections in with a bunch of regular clamps for a buck a piece.  I'm lucky that way.   
salat

Very nice salat . Your gonna make me put some pics up as well if you dont watch it. Cheers and of course bee safe.

Heating both would be simple since I have spent years envisioning a larger steam distiller. I am on the same page as you about the plant extraction as you already know.
What can be done is to place one tank directly above the other. Heat rises and once the steam gets going it will generate heat that rises warming the other tank as well. I have done two pot steam distillation with BnO and it does not take long before the steam from the first heats the second to the point needed to make it a constant thing. Keep the second well insulated and it should not pose to much of a problem at all.

Being large scale this may have some kinks to work out in the end but I have spend well over a decade perfecting steam distillation and envisioned many many ways of scaling up. The above is what I have concluded from all my small scale work will be the best approch.

What are the risks and whatever of just using a pressure cooker? I have a nice one I use for agar and other sterilization, but it seems like it could be used without modification for steam distillation. I could be wrong though, and it seems rather dangerous..

Well this was attempt #3 so I've learned a little.  I'm still trying to buy an extractor bulb (cheapest I've seen so far is 50$) I'm a cheapskate.

hxxp://www.crucible.org/essential_oil_distiller_operation.html I used this site to give me some ideas when setting up the glassware.

First setup was using glass with rubber stoppers and putting the plant material in a tube.  Problem was lots of leakage and backflow (but did get nice amount of product from it).

2nd attempt was with a pressure cooker.   Pressure cookers are designed to go up to 15 psi.  Problems I had was not enough pressure buildup to send steam through hose.  So water built up in hose and went back into pressure cooker.  I had to carefully monitor it so it wouldn't overload (used the hole where the popup valve is for the psi gauge so was flying without a net). The pressure cooker can generate the right amount of steam, I was just afraid to let it go too far because it didn't have a relief valve.   And no way to refill it without stopping and letting the pressure relieve.

 I used a chromatography column to hold the plant material and had to use corks for the connections.  Didn't leak as bad as the first attempt but the connections were still a problem as was not having a relief valve - in hindsight I'd drill a 3rd hole and leave the relief in place.  Used a magnetic stir bar - don't know if that was needed or not but gave me warm fuzzies.  You would need to trash your pressure cooker - I'd recommend a trip to goodwill or whoever and get one that is aluminum since it is easier to drill than steel. You need a bigger outlet than the hole in a pressure cooker would allow.  My husband tapped one out at 1/4 nps.  (seems like chemistry is more plumbing than anything - we spend hours looking for enough pieces to make a setup - Christmas trees anyone?).

The glassware shown is my 3rd attempt and it worked like a charm.  I reconfigured it after the first go round and added a more efficient condenser on the downflow.  Insulation which isn't shown in the picture is key.  Once I got the insulation on I was amazed at how fast the stuff comes over.  There's a fine line to walk in the glass setup where the water and material are in the same flask - you don't want so much water as to be boiling the mixture like soup, rather just enough water to be steaming the material.  The funnel I used was really good because it didn't let any steam to backup into it and allowed me to control dropping water into the flask, but required constant monitoring to prevent drying out.  I stopped after running it most of the day because the material coming over wasn't cloudy any more.  Got two 500 ml flasks of mixed water/oil and whatever it is that makes it cloudy looking.  Used hot water to get the remnants out of the glassware - the stuff sticks.  Rinsed out the condensers etc with alcohol trying to recover as much oil as possible want one of those liquid-liquid extractors now too.  Think I would do better to spend the $ on the tank setup.  The glass setup is fine for smaller quantity stuff but wouldn't be good for big things.

Side note in case anyone is considering distilling peach pits or bitter almonds (amydalin) - there is a very poisonous gas (hydrogen cyanide I think) that is generated during the process so you'd need a good exhaust setup.  The new "cook" books don't mention it, but in the old chemistry book I read on volatile oils it mentions they exhausted it to the fire pit.

salat

How we roll in da swamp!!!

If doing large quantities, why not scrub with NaOH(aq), free cyanide isn't to be sniffed at.