Petroleum ether is the most common solvent recommended for use in the XT Extractors.  Many other solvents will work depending on your individual objectives, but may require upgrades to the method or instrument in order for them to run effectively.  Hexane, for example, will run but occasionally will create an instrument fault on the first run of the day in cooler laboratories.  Simply restarting the instrument will solve this issue.  Some "higher penetrating" solvents (di-ethyl ether, ethyl ether, etc.) require a seal upgrade before the instrument will work properly.  Chlorinated solvents (chloroform and methylene chloride) can be utilized in the instruments but these solvents tend to damage the XT4 Filter Bags so we don't recommend their usage.

Please contact ANKOM (https://www.ankom.com/contact/technical-services) for part upgrade information or if you have a question about what solvent you plan to use.