This is a first for me but I thought it was important enough to share. Recently in doing a repair on a carbon dioxide manifold we noticed a strong lavender odor coming from the regulators. To make a long story short  after having the gas tested and analyzed it was discovered that the carbon dioxide cylinder contained hemp oil.

 After more research it was discovered that the  USP CO2 cylinder was used in the extraction of cannabis to produce hemp oil.  If anyone is interested I can elaborate on all of this. The reason for this post is to let people be aware that people are using USP CO2 cylinders in the production of hemp oil.

 Two other points of interest is we discovered that this is not the first time this has occurred. Gas suppliers do not want general public to know that this has occurred more frequently of late especially with the Internet explaining how to do it.  We also thought it was isolated to Hawaii but discovered that the cylinder came from Texas. 

 Remember medical gases have no older and it’s not just trusting the label that reads USP. 

Non-dip tube was delivered but if you’re using CO2 for hemp extraction you want to use a dip tube. 

 This was done by an amateur lab. 

  Odor doing a repair to the manifold that was damaged by the oil.  It still read 100% CO2 but had a high level of hydrocarbons. 

 I don’t think were supposed to list names on the forum but it is the largest medical gas supplier in the world. 

 The CO2 cylinders are  filled and shipped in from the mainland for Hawaii. 

 George you’re right with USP there is no upper limit on hydrocarbons. There is if you’re talking about food grade. But CO2 should still not have high levels of hydrocarbons indicating that there is a problem. You are also correct that they pull a vacuum on the individual cylinders before filling them.  If there is  hemp oil inside the cylinder in a liquid form it will continue offgassing at about 70°F.