{"id":3502,"date":"2026-10-08T14:01:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T06:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ars-infosys.com\/blog\/?p=3502"},"modified":"2026-10-08T14:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T06:01:34","slug":"what-is-the-compatibility-of-ultrasonic-extraction-with-different-types-of-extraction-ve-4266-e5b782","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ars-infosys.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/08\/what-is-the-compatibility-of-ultrasonic-extraction-with-different-types-of-extraction-ve-4266-e5b782\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the compatibility of ultrasonic extraction with different types of extraction vessels?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey everyone, it\u2019s Jake from the ultrasonic extraction team here\u2014today we\u2019re talking about something that comes up all the time<\/em> in our DMs and client calls: can you use ultrasonic extraction with any<\/em> old glass\/metal\/plastic vessel you have lying around? Short answer? Nah, not really. I\u2019ve seen so many people waste money on bad extractions just because they grabbed the wrong vessel for their setup, and that\u2019s exactly why I wanted to break this down for you, no stuffy jargon, just real talk from someone who\u2019s tested way<\/em> too many vessels with our units. Ultrasonic Extraction<\/a><\/p>\n

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First, let\u2019s ground this for anyone new\u2014ultrasonic extraction works by blasting sound waves (20kHz to like 100kHz, depending on your unit) through a solvent and your sample, creating tiny cavitation bubbles that collapse and break down cell walls to release your target compounds. But those sound waves don\u2019t just care about your sample; they bounce off whatever\u2019s holding everything. So the vessel material isn\u2019t just a \u201ccontainer\u201d\u2014it\u2019s a key part of the whole system, and getting it wrong kills yield, wastes time, or even damages your ultrasonic unit.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the most common vessel: glass. This is the bread and butter for hobbyists and small-scale labs, right? I\u2019ve used beakers, round-bottom flasks, even those weird conical glass vials people use for tiny sample runs. But here\u2019s the thing about glass: it\u2019s amazing<\/em> at transmitting ultrasound\u2014way better than plastic, worse than metal. Wait, why does that matter? Because if your vessel blocks the sound, none of it gets to your sample. Borosilicate glass is the sweet spot here, by the way. Regular soda-lime glass can have tiny bubbles or impurities that scatter sound, so I always tell folks to splurge a little on borosilicate. But glass has a catch: it\u2019s fragile, and if you\u2019re using high-power ultrasonic units (like the industrial ones we make for large-scale botanical extractions), the constant sound waves can cause glass to crack over time. I had a client last year who was running 50L glass flasks with a 40kHz high-power unit, and after 3 runs, one of the flasks split down the side\u2014luckily, no solvent spilled, but it cost them $200 in glass and a day of downtime. Also, glass works for almost all solvents<\/em>: ethanol, hexane, water, even harsh ones like dichloromethane, as long as the solvent doesn\u2019t etch the glass (which most don\u2019t for typical extraction times). The only time I skip glass? If you\u2019re working with really high-temperature extractions\u2014above like 150\u00b0C\u2014glass can soften or warp, and sound transmission drops off a cliff.<\/p>\n

Next up: plastic vessels. These are super common for low-power, hobbyist stuff, right? People use plastic bottles, centrifuge tubes, even plastic beakers because they\u2019re cheap and unbreakable. But here\u2019s the hard truth about plastic and ultrasonic extraction: most plastics are bad<\/em>. Why? Because they absorb ultrasound, not transmit it. Let\u2019s break down the types of plastic that work, and the ones that don\u2019t. HDPE (high-density polyethylene)? It\u2019s what most milk jugs are made of\u2014absorbs like 30% of the sound waves coming through, so your extraction yield is gonna be way lower than if you used glass. PET (the plastic water bottle kind)? Even worse, it has tiny molecular structures that scatter sound, and I\u2019ve seen PET bottles warp at the bottom when you run a medium-power ultrasonic unit. The only plastic that\u2019s actually okay for ultrasonic extraction? PFA or FEP, the fluorinated plastics. Those are the ones used in lab wash bottles or specialty centrifuge tubes\u2014they transmit almost as much sound as glass, and they\u2019re unbreakable. But they\u2019re expensive<\/em>\u2014like 10x the cost of regular plastic. So if you\u2019re a hobbyist doing small runs (10mL solvent or less) with a low-power ultrasonic cleaner unit (like the tabletop ones), using a PFA tube is worth it. But if you\u2019re doing 5L runs, plastic\u2019s just not efficient enough. Also, another thing: plastic is porous (even the hard PFA kind, a little), so if you\u2019re working with valuable compounds that can stick to surfaces, you\u2019ll lose a lot of product to the vessel walls. I had a herbal extraction client who switched from glass to HDPE because he was worried about breaking stuff, and his CBD yield dropped by 18%\u2014turns out the cavitation was happening in the plastic walls, not the solvent, so his sample barely got any blast.<\/p>\n

Now the big one: metal vessels. These are the workhorses for industrial-scale extraction, and honestly, I get why\u2014they\u2019re tough, they handle high heat and high power, perfect for 100L+ runs. But metal and ultrasound? Trickier than you\u2019d think. First, not all metals are equal. Stainless steel 316 is the gold standard here. It\u2019s corrosion-resistant, transmits sound really well, and can handle high power (up to 100kHz with no problem). I\u2019ve run 200L stainless steel extractors with our 2kW ultrasonic units for citrus oil extractions, and the yield was consistent every time. But stainless steel 304? It works for some stuff, but if you\u2019re using acidic solvents (like for acid-extracted plant compounds), 304 can corrode, and the corrosion products mess with your sample. The other metal that\u2019s used is aluminum\u2014but wait, aluminum is terrible<\/em> for ultrasonic extraction. Why? It reflects ultrasound back instead of transmitting it, so all the sound waves bounce around the top of the vessel and don\u2019t hit your sample. I once tested a small aluminum beaker for a client\u2019s pilot run, and his extraction was 50% lower than when we used stainless steel. That\u2019s a classic mistake\u2014people think metal is metal, but reflection vs transmission is everything here. Also, metal vessels need to be smooth. If there\u2019s a scratch or a weld seam that\u2019s uneven, that\u2019s a point where sound scatters, so yield drops. Another pro tip for metal: if you\u2019re using a large ultrasonic unit, the metal vessel should fit snugly on the transducer plate (the part that generates the sound) with a little bit of coupling agent (like glycerin or even water). If there\u2019s a gap, sound escapes, and you\u2019re wasting power.<\/p>\n

Wait, what about hybrid vessels? Like glass-lined metal? I\u2019ve tested those too, mostly for pharmaceutical extractions where they need corrosion resistance and<\/em> good sound transmission. The glass lining is thin, so it transmits almost as well as pure glass, and the metal outside handles high power. But they\u2019re super expensive, so only worth it for regulated pharma work. For most folks, that\u2019s overkill.<\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s talk about the variables that change all this\u2014because it\u2019s not just the vessel material. The frequency of your ultrasonic unit matters. Low-frequency units (20-40kHz) make bigger cavitation bubbles, which hit harder, so they can compensate a little for slightly lower sound transmission. High-frequency units (60-100kHz) make tiny bubbles, so they\u2019re way more sensitive to sound blockage\u2014so a crappy plastic vessel will kill high-frequency yield way faster. Then there\u2019s your solvent: if you\u2019re using a non-polar solvent like hexane, it doesn\u2019t etch glass or react with plastic, so glass is fine. If you\u2019re using methanol or ethanol, glass is still fine, but some plastics will leach chemicals into the solvent\u2014another reason to avoid regular plastic, not just sound transmission.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve compiled a quick cheat sheet over the years that I send every new client, so let\u2019s share that here for free:<\/p>\n