Caffeine extraction from green coffee with supercritical CO2

[19Maxx68]

Appreciate your efforts to upload your experiments. Great stuff!

[rvasquez6089]

i love you bro, i want a shop like you when i get older

[jerec576]

Could you explain the design mentioned at 4:40-5:00? I thought the entire tube was 1 sealed chamber with a piece of aluminum for a physical separation, but the video shows as though you have some piece leading to another chamber? I'm very much interested in replicating this design but with a slight difference with water and beans.

[jerec576]

@jerec576 I think Ethyl Alcohol would be an appropriate co-solvent for the coffee beans. I think it also becomes supercritical at relative levels to CO2

[MightBiteYa]

You're a mad scientist, sir, and I salute you.

[joemplascencia]

FYI robusta coffee beans contain more caffeine than arabica beans.

Btw you're set up is awesome. I've tried the crystallized caffeine, it has a rather nasty taste.

[GNBrews]

Safety glasses.... :)

[uddagiri]

hey ur simply amzaing !!!

im kinda new to Chemicals and stuff

im just wondering can you extract Caffeine form regular Cool Drinks like COKE n PEPSI

they contain Caffeine im wondering how much percent they contain every time i drink them

and if you can extract Caffeine from them wat would be the procedure.....

it would be good to c some video about it from you!!!!

[bkraz333]

@uddagiri A Coke has about 35mg of caffeine per serving. You can extract it simply by mixing the soda with methylene chloride as I demonstrated in my other video. A youtube user called hkparker also shows caffeine extraction from an energy drink.

[johnyi123lol]

meth lab? maybe

[johnyi123lol]

now sniff it

[Ammoniummetavanadate]

I shall have to do this in my 2L Grade 1 Titanium Autoclave at work. I am sure my bosses will not mind too much. Plus it has a working pressure of 10K Psi. Let's not talk about the value on it....

[Ammoniummetavanadate]

@Ammoniummetavanadate Sorry, it is grade 2, not grade 1. We do work with sulphides and chlorides, pure Ti is one of the only things that can reliably stand up to them.

[OzPricey]

Just came across these videos... They're amazing! I would have listened so much harder in my first year Engineering units if I had have realised that all of the theories were actually applicable to a workshop environment. You're inspiring!

[trentontrading]

I'm certain that many soap makers, perfumers, aroma therapist etc would love to see you do a video on super critical co2 essential oil extraction from Lavender flowers, Vanilla or Rosemary etc. traditional steam distillation or chemical based extraction methods have their drawbacks.

Thanks for sharing the video!

[HippoShag123]

Thumbs up for APPLE!!

[BeardedDragonHelpr]

i dont get it?

[shocellist]

Very cool! Saw this on trending videos--will watch more.

[thegenrl]

you have very cool projects. thanks for well documenting and sharing

[IDRadam]

what would happen if you ate that pure caffine

[Spacepersoon]

@IDRadam You'll get quite active, nothing more .. :]

It's not as good as amphetamins, and it won't work if you smoke weed with it, but it does give energy :]

[9385dee7]

"pipe nipple"

[SternenlichtR]

Walter White?

[TheObeseMermaid]

COCAINE!

[funhouse83]

could the liquid be black from the pipe coating?

[Caraecrika]

Ok Tony Stark we get it...

[Sophesumer]

Wouldn't the extraction benefit from grinding the beans (like in a blender) when your doing it at this scale? Those supercritical co2 extractors used in factories are enormous.

[aceytam]

did he say nipple?

[DailyOC]

seems like you could make some good hash with that thing ;0

[adeeply]

you should shave your head and find an addict for a partner. Then sell it on the streets to get the attentions of gustavo.

[M1ST3RHYDE]

First: I really like your videos so far & your style.

I like you simple screen & disc idea for your beans. l have been waiting to make a filter for my vacuum kaffe pot project and its simple yet pretty also i already have a disc like that from a wire winder tool l made. So thank you for that idea.

[drew88881]

He probably snorted it lol jk

[CheeseBon]

this is awesome! can i just ask, what did u do with the pure caffeine? 

[zIProtege]

is it possible to extract an artificial flavor?

[PKNeoHaseo]

What the government don't want you to know...also another reason why good people die so young, too much caffeine kills .

[HaloReport]

Thumb up if you thought he meant cocaine

[SuperDisco91]

Love the detail you go into explaining the process, also how excited you sound at the beginning of the video.

[ZRTMWA]

Now show me how to make meth

[mJusticz]

What camera do you use to record these?  The quality is fantastic! Great project.

[bkraz333]

@mJusticz Thanks! My camera is a Lumix GH1. I set the shutter to 1/30 at f/4.0 for indoor work, then adjust the ISO to get a good exposure (usually ISO 400). If there is too much light, I'll stop down as far as f/8. I have full spectrum fluorescent lights in my shop, and I've manually adjusted the camera white balance to match the lights. I almost always use manual focus in my videos since each shot is pretty well controlled and done on a tripod.

[xRaw381]

@bkraz333 i dont mean to sound rude, but where do you get the money for all this? and where do you find the time? do you have a job?

[bkraz333]

@xRaw381 Fair questions. I am unmarried and don't have kids. I don't own a TV. I don't play or follow sports, and I only occasionally travel for leisure. So, finding time to work on my projects isn't too difficult. However, I recently started working for Valve Software, which means I will probably have less time to tinker. Previously, I ran my own business, so I could set my own hours. I am also working on some writing projects that will keep me busy for a little while.

[xRaw381]

@bkraz333 oh right thanks for telling me that man, atleast you respond to your viewers, which cant be easy when you have 35k views :)

[ConceptVBS]

Next time, just get decafe coffee.

[ayreefeek1]

so what do u get from doing this?

[123natedizel]

What if you just injected caffeine into your vein? lol

[C41N3]

@123natedizel simple. you die.

[Andyuino]

really cool!

[violentblue123]

would the black staining have anything to do with a reaction with the iron in the fittings?

perhaps stainless steel might rectify this problem.

[bkraz333]

@violentblue123 I was worried the black particulate in the water was iron oxide, but it is very likely not rust, and probably from the coffee itself. It might be plain carbon from burned beans that were overheated by the heating element. I was surprised the steel chamber was not more effective in spreading the heat from the heating element. A small portion of the beans were burned black!

[PetePhamous]

@bkraz333

you are probably the master of extracting thc from the herb.

[iGoTUrBaByMaMa]

@bkraz333 this would mean u could extract cocaine from the coca leaves with this same method?

[techraptorx]

coming up.... from Ben - One RTG battery using just pipe fittings. I'm pretty confident you are going to end up the richest DIY guy on this planet...

[hippodude100]

laughed hard at the stains.

But very nice work.

Looking forward to your next videos !

subscribed

[alexmeanberg]

Let's see how much innuendo we can fit into one 10 minute video.

[ampix0]

This was very interesting. I didn't understand most of it though XD

[DeadPirateSociety]

Reddit brought me here.

[AntiProtonBoy]

So. Did you rack up a line, or what?

[DGman4]

I find this experiment and household application of chemistry and thermodynamics to be quite interesting. I was wondering if you have an estimate on how much this scale experiment costed, where you got liquid CO2 from, and what safety precautions you had to take? I would have been quite frightened to have the pressure exceed the the working pressure of the sight glass.

[bkraz333]

@DGman4 The CO2 came from a local welding supply store (about $200, including the 20lb tank purchase). The steel pipe fittings are all from McMaster (about $80) along with the gauge, valves and compression fittings ($150). If you want to be safe, don't exceed the pressure rating of any component used, and there will be almost no chance of a catastrophic failure.

[llieske]

Pipe nipple.

[djhaywud]

Pipe nipple.

[TheCrazyInventor]

Very awesome process and very good explanation. Congratulations on your major breakthrough. :)

Can't wait until the next vid.

[humppamonsteri]

Dude, wanna cook meth with me?

[FUxxxCKREGISTRATION]

@humppamonsteri

Meth is not very profitable.

Meth is to drugs as McDonald's is to restaurants.

The likelihood of an individual being able to do what Walter White does is pretty low. The reason drugs get a bad rep is because of the negative side effects of the additives, most drugs don't tear up the human body in controlled doses. Cocaine extracted in itself doesn't destroy sinus tissue, it's the bullshit they put in it.

[preston9019]

@FUxxxCKREGISTRATION meth is very profitable. there is a reason it is so prevalent.

[unwaryrince]

Is this the guy Walter White was based off of?

[DanielHeth]

I was thinking of a highly caffeinated glass of champagne

[B1r6m4n]

Can I snort it???

[bfestevao]

now you finished 2011 with a flourish! your new year's eve will have decaffeinated coffee instead of champagne! Congrats!!

[sabamacx]

How do you know you have extracted caffeine and not some other compound?

[DGman4]

@sabamacx Well since he based the procedure off a patent it's a pretty safe bet. I'd imagine that the patent proved that the product was caffeine (i.e. through chemical analyses such as qualitative features, TLC, mass spectrometry, or NMR spectroscopy).

[ikilldhitler]

you sir, are a genius.

no kidding either, this is really impressive that someone would do thin in their garage! ill have to do this for science fair! excellent video too!

[kacperciesla]

It's awesome. As always. But I keep asking myself one question when watching your videos - what do you do for living?

[Intosia]

Amazing stuff! Subbed after your apearence on the AmpHour ;)

[elminz]

Now *that's* how you make coffee!

[DeviousInsight]

1:19 nipple.  :D

[deefdeefdeef]

Yeah, I'm always floored by the work Ben does. This is incredibly interesting -- and I love the DIY angle.

[eggroll9000]

Add sugar to the black water and sell it for a ridiculous price as a natural/herbal caffeinated beverage...

[CardioNEggWhites]

@eggroll9000 Good idea until someone overdoses. Also, the FDA might not approve of him selling pure caffeine, lol.

[thomaskona69]

@CardioNEggWhites people already sell pure caffiene look it up

[bkraz333]

@eggroll9000 It's not a bad idea at all. The taste was different from coffee or espresso, but really pretty good in its own way.

[sporeknight123]

@bkraz333 that may be a bit dangerous it you end up with a extremely high percentage of pure caffeine. And how much did that shop cost to construct and what do you do for a living as i am hoping to go into the biology field?

[silverstream314]

Ridiculously impressive as always!

[frac]

Fantastic video again. You're batting 1000. Thanks so much for posting these.

[hla27b]

Impressive work Ben

Happy new year.