The Vespiary

The Hive => Chemicals & Equipment => Topic started by: sexybill on July 25, 2003, 09:24:00 AM

Title: Sasafrass root bark vs. Sasafrass root bark powder
Post by: sexybill on July 25, 2003, 09:24:00 AM
Swim had a dream that he found a source for sasafrass rootbark and sasafrass rootbark powder.
one pound of the rootbark was 26.81
one pound of the powder was   27.81

Which one would be the better for the extraction,
and approx. how many lbs. would be needed for the Dr. Drool synth.? :o

Title: oil from bark
Post by: nitrous351 on July 25, 2003, 10:22:00 AM
The general consensus is that 6%-9% of root bark (I am assuming by weight here...correct if wrong) is sassafras oil. So, if you have 1 lb of bark, that 16 oz. There are 28 g per ounce, so there are 448 g in a pound. 6%-9% of that is 26.88 - 40.32 g of sassafras oil. Depending on the tree you got the bark from, the safrole content in that oil will be 80%-90%.... I always like to use conservative estimates, so we'll say your oil has 80% safrole. 80% of 26.88 - 40.32 g is 21.50 - 32.27 g of safrole per pound of root bark.
You also must factor in the freshness of the root bark, because the fresher the bark, the more oil you will get out of it. I remember reading a post (can't remember by who, sorry) but they said that they only got 1 g of safrole from steam distillation of 1 kg (yes, that's KG) of old root bark.
So, to answer your question, you will need 8 - 9 pounds of fresh root bark to run a Dr. Drool synth.
An alternative to this would be buying live sassafras trees from a nursery or a certain popular auction site (there are a bunch of trees for auction at this very moment...and they are cheap)... or go into nature and find your own damn trees and cut them down. It's actually a fun thing to do, plus you learn to name a whole bunch of trees.
Eventually, you can get cocky with your friends and tell them that you bet them $100 that you can make mdma from a tree. They will of course take the bet, and you will win a $100. Of course, if you are stupid enough to tell your friends about your batcave activity, you will also probably win yourself a 20 year vacation to the new Bally's Resort on an "island" named Clink.

Title: Yes fresher the better.
Post by: karl on July 25, 2003, 11:36:00 AM
Freshly ground bark seems to be best. The one and only occasion an acquaintance used powdered bark it only yielded ~1.3%w/w of oil (it was probably old) in the freshly ground state it usually yielded >4-6% oil although this was not the finest quality bark in the first place mind. The safrole content of the oil seemed to be more along the lines of 60-75% safrole by fractional distillation.
Title: Freshly ground bark
Post by: methyl_ethyl on July 25, 2003, 01:17:00 PM
Freshly ground bark seems to be best

     You got it...  This quote always stuck in my head,

One thing about distilling from root bark is that it needs to be done when the rootbark is still fresh out of the ground.  Sassafras oil can evaporate into the atmosphere from the bark over time; this is what makes an essential oil different from, say, a cooking oil.  The oil content of a dead tree is significantly lower than that of a healthy living one.
  

 

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