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Three Excellent Types of Cannabis Extraction Methods For Quality Products

The flower industry is booming in North America, and the, “green rush”, has encouraged people to utilize creative ways to extract cannabinoids from the flower plant. The innovation that we have seen in the industry is pretty amazing. JC Younger can help you set up your flower extraction facility. With the green rush taking place across the country, brands are creating new products to serve a wider range of new customers. These consumer brands are using flower extraction methods in new and inventive ways that require streamlined chemical extraction processes. Different products require different cannabinoid compounds. We are seeing more cannabinoids being discovered and becoming popular, i.e. CBG, CBN, and Delta-8. In this blog, we cover three flower extraction methods that are commonly used in the CBD, hemp, and flower industry: 1) Ethanol Extraction This process is known for creating some of the purest and best-tasting concentrates. Ethanol is a very efficient solvent, so extraction can be done at room temperature, super cold conditions, or right at the boiling point. The ethanol solvent binds with chlorophyll, which can make the product taste bitter. Cannabis extraction method using Ethanol extraction can isolate cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavanoids so your product. Ethanol Extraction Process: 1. Heat your feed to remove chlorophyll. 2. Boil ethanol and catch the alcohol in a cooled- coil. 3. Drip the alcohol through your plant material until it is soaked through and leaches out the THC, terpenoids, and other goodies. After this, you have to filter the flower from the liquid. This can be done in the machine that did the first two steps. Often, they will have a rotary system that spins the materials until the plant is completely extracted. The fun part is separating out the ethanol from the compounds you want. Since ethanol has a low boiling point, this is fairly easy. Your chiller can winterize the product, keeping the temperature very low for a while in a vacuum so that the solvent drops out. 2) Alcohol Tincture Extraction This is a basic Cannabis extraction method that will leave you with the tarry honey oil. It’s often done by small scale operations or by people at home, but you can scale up if you want. The process: 1. Treat your feed to decarboxylation, meaning heat your material to around 250 degrees Fahrenheit for a prolonged period of time. 2. Soak your treated feed in the water. 3. Drain it and replace the water with pure, high-proof alcohol 4. Stir this together and then put it through a strainer. 5. Heat the resulting liquid to separate out the alcohol and filter out the plant. You will wind up with the classic oil you remember from your youth. 3) Carbon Dioxide (Supercritical Fluid Extraction) Supercritical carbon dioxide (C02) is the gas we all exhale after it has been treated to 73bar (1060psi) at 33.1 degrees Celsius. This turns it into a material that spreads like gas but flows like a liquid. For flower extraction methods for quality products, Supercritical C02 extraction is often considered the gold standard because it will take out all 500 compounds that you could possibly want to utilize in your flower extract products. 1. Have your extractor full of CO2 properly calibrated. 2. Feed the plant material into it. The supercritical carbon dioxide will soak the feed and leach out 90 to 95% of all the compounds. The next step will be to winterize your product. How long you do this will depend on the products you are making. If you do it for a short time, you will wind up with wax in your product and, while it will make shatter just fine, it won’t be good for vape liquids. As you can see, you have a lot of choices when it comes to flower extraction methods for quality products, and many of them require chillers. JC Younger is proud to say that we can customize chillers to your Cannabis extraction method, and we can rent them to your company for anything from weeks to years. If you are looking to get a chiller for your process, contact us.

Carbon Dioxide – TwoFold Purpose in Plant Oil Extraction

Leave a Comment / CO2 CHILLERS / By Sam Eppel

The Use of Co2 x 2 Botanical oils are becoming more and more prominent for their medicinal purposes. Co2 extraction is one of the more popular methods. With the concerns about environmental damage, Co2 is returning as an alternative or additional refrigerant. Co2 Extraction Method In Plant Oil Extraction There are multiple processes for extracting plant oils as found in a blog on New Directions, “How Essential Oils Are Made” (2017, March 20). As reported, there are a variety of popular methods: “steam distillation, solvent extraction, CO2 extraction, Maceration, Enfleurage, Cold Press Extraction, and Water Distillation.” What method is used is based on the “plant types and parts.” With steam distillation being the most popular, Co2 is very similar except the distillation process uses heat, Co2 does not. In fact, it is believed that Co2 extraction produces oils that are considered to be of higher quality because they have not been altered by intense heat. These oils have retained more of the plant’s chemical composition, and they are reported to be thicker with a stronger aroma of the original plant. When you visualize the Co2 extraction method that has been supplied in the New Directions‘ blog, you understand the role that Co2 plays. Liquid Co2 leaves its holding tank. It is pumped into the extractor, where Co2 mixes with the plant matter. The Co2 is the solvent that pulls the essentials oils and other matter from the plant. At this point, if lower temperatures are necessary for oil extraction, this is where a chiller would be necessary. The solvent mixture passes through a pressure reducing valves that returns the Co2 to its gas form and separates from the oil. The Co2 gas returns to the holding tank to start the process over again. You can read that there are companies that are beginning to utilize this process as a marketing element in the “flavoring and nutriceuticals industry.” Butane and alcohol have been solvents that have been used for plant oil extraction, but flammability of these two liquids make them a safety concern. How Co2 Can Be Introduced Into the Chiller Process to Help Cool The Condenser With Co2 already being utilized in the Co2 extraction process and people looking for better alternatives to environmental-safe refrigerants, a video from YouTube, “How Multi ejectors work – working principle CO2 refrigeration” by The Engineering Mindset.com, Evans, P. (2018, July 16) gives a great visual means to see how Co2 can be integrated into a chiller system. As Evans points out, there is a list of reasons that make Co2 a good refrigerant that include “natural, non-toxic, non-flammable, high heat transfer, and GWP of just 1.” Industries Are Using the Co2 Refrigerant Alternative Found on RSI, “Carbon Dioxide as a Refrigerant” by Nguyen, O. (2016, July 19) gives a great history of Co2 use for refrigeration that dates back to the mid-1800’s. As noted, Co2 is damaging to our ozone, but the damage as a refrigerant is minimal. Co2 is returning to tackle the environmental concerns with the help of new technologies. The concerns that once curtailed the use of Co2 has been overcome. Reportedly, better system designs have been a positive outcome of working through the high-pressure challenges. Call J.C. Younger about Co2 – Extraction and Condenser Cooling J.C. Younger continuously works to stay up on the latest technologies to make our chiller manufacturing and remanufacturing business the best in the country. If you’re wanting to learn more about how a Co2 extraction chiller can be a more efficient process for your application, we are always happy to review our quality, user-friendly chiller systems with you. We are always accessible, for your questions and customer support.