BUCHI

Who BUCHI is and what it makes

BÜCHI Labortechnik AG is a Swiss laboratory equipment maker headquartered in Flawil, Switzerland, founded in 1939 when Walter Büchi opened a glassblowing workshop. BUCHI developed what it calls the world's first rotary evaporator in 1957, and its Rotavapor line now runs from 1 liter benchtop units to industrial evaporators. The company also makes chromatography, freeze drying, spray drying, Kjeldahl, fat extraction and NIR instruments. Dr. Reinhardt Büchi chairs the board, and the US arm, BUCHI Corporation, is based in New Castle, Delaware.

For cannabis operators, BUCHI matters for one job: stripping ethanol or other solvents from a tincture or crude solution with good recovery. The Rotavapor R-220 Pro is the industrial model extraction labs ask about most, and it is the unit Urth & Fyre currently has listed.

Where a BUCHI Rotavapor fits by facility stage

R&D and product development rooms usually run a benchtop Rotavapor. BUCHI lists the R-80 for 1 liter flasks, the R-180 for up to 3 liters and the R-300 for 5 liters. These handle formulation work, method development and small solvent recovery batches, but they are not sized for a production ethanol line.

Production extraction labs step up to the Rotavapor R-220 Pro. BUCHI rates it at up to 12 liters of ethanol per hour, with a maximum of 10 liters of sample per batch, a heating bath that reaches 180 °C and a 3,600 W heater on the standard variants. Facilities that want explosion protection look at the R-250 EX, which BUCHI lists as ATEX approved, with flasks up to 50 liters and up to 19 liters of ethanol per hour.

ATEX is a European approval, so confirm with your fire marshal or building official how it maps to your room classification before you plan around it. If your daily solvent volume outruns what one R-220 Pro can strip in a shift, compare a second unit against the falling film and wiped film options in our Distillation Equipment Guide.

How to size and choose a BUCHI Rotavapor

Start with the daily solvent volume you need to remove and the hours you can run. At the rated 12 liters of ethanol per hour, one R-220 Pro covers about 96 liters in an eight hour shift under ideal conditions. Expect less with foaming material, a lower bath temperature or a vacuum that does not hold.

Next, size cooling and vacuum. BUCHI pairs the R-220 Pro with its F-325 recirculating chiller, rated at 2,500 W of cooling at 15 °C, which also serves as the trolley for the V-600 vacuum pump. BUCHI specifies leakage under 1 mbar per minute for the complete system, so check vacuum hold on any used unit before you trust its distillation rate.

Pick the variant last. BUCHI sells the R-220 Pro in standard, Essential, Continuous and High Performance versions. The Essential ships without the vacuum controller, and the High Performance bath delivers 6,300 W of heating but runs water only, up to 100 °C. Our rotary evaporator buying guide covers new versus used pricing and sizing in more detail.

BUCHI R-220 Pro compared with the alternatives

Inside the BUCHI range, the R-220 Pro and the R-250 EX are the two industrial choices. The R-250 EX trades bath temperature (150 °C versus 180 °C) for ATEX approval, larger flasks and a higher rated ethanol rate of 19 versus 12 liters per hour. The benchtop R-80, R-180 and R-300 cap out at 5 liter flasks.

On controls, the R-220 Pro uses a detachable 8.7 inch capacitive touchscreen with programmable SOPs, remote monitoring from a phone and push notifications, and BUCHI lists its product contact materials as FDA compliant. Those are the specs to compare line by line against any other 20 liter class rotary evaporator on your quote list.

The other alternative is a different technology. A rotary evaporator works in batches limited by flask size, so labs recovering solvent around the clock often compare it against continuous falling film recovery. BUCHI offers an R-220 Pro Continuous variant, so ask BUCHI for its feed configuration when you run that comparison.

Buying a BUCHI Rotavapor through Urth & Fyre

Urth & Fyre currently lists a BUCHI Rotavapor R-220 Pro rotary evaporator with a recirculating chiller. Ask for the service history, a full glass inventory and a vacuum hold test result before you commit. Check the bath fluid history too, since the standard bath runs water or oil and oil residue changes the cleaning work.

If that unit does not fit your volume, Urth & Fyre sources and quotes BUCHI equipment new, and you can review the company's own history and background before you talk to a rep. Request a quote on the R-220 Pro listing, or send Urth & Fyre the solvent volume you need to recover each day for a sized Rotavapor setup.

• Run a vacuum hold test. BUCHI specifies leakage under 1 mbar per minute for the complete R-220 Pro system, and a used unit far off that figure needs seal or glass work before production.
• Inspect every flask, condenser and receiver for star cracks and flange chips. R-220 Pro flasks use 150 mm flanges and borosilicate 3.3 glass in 6, 10 and 20 liter sizes, so price replacement glass before you bid.
• Plan power. The standard R-220 Pro variants draw 5,000 W and the High Performance version 7,500 W, and one 20 liter configuration is listed at 230 V. Read the data plate and plan a dedicated circuit.
• Match the chiller. BUCHI rates the F-325 at 2,500 W of cooling at 15 °C. If a used unit comes with a different chiller, confirm its capacity at your condenser setpoint.
• Check the bath. Standard baths run water or oil up to 180 °C, while the High Performance bath is water only up to 100 °C. Ask which fluid the last owner used.
• Test the controls. Confirm the 8.7 inch touchscreen powers up, stores SOPs and that the emergency stop key works, since the Essential version has no vacuum controller to fall back on.