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How Liquid Nitrogen Makes CBD And THC Extraction Faster

Benzinga

October 21, 2022



The multi-billion-dollar CBD/THC industry continues its rapid growth and products are multiplying. Now, the ability to ramp up production to industrial scale while maintaining quality depends on using the most effective processes to extract cannabinoids like cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) from hemp and marijuana.


The conventional ethanol extraction process, however, places considerable limitations on the speed of production. For optimum efficiency, ethanol must be quickly chilled to -40° to -80°C for the best quality extraction. Traditional chilling techniques cannot quickly achieve or maintain these sub-zero temperatures. The result is additional processing steps and a lower-quality oil extract...


Fortunately, liquid nitrogen technology, established in pharmaceutical and medical applications, is now being used to design chillers specifically for CBD and THC extraction. The technology enables very fast, accurate, cryogenic temperatures along with expedited processing and enhanced product quality.


“To produce fully purified, high-value CBD and THC oil, the ability to use liquid nitrogen chillers to quickly bring ethanol to -80°C is a gamechanger for our industry,” says Schenk. “We cut extraction and distillation time in half by eliminating unnecessary reprocessing, while producing a significantly better product,” says Schenk.


Schenk, who has decades of experience in supplement manufacturing, discovered the technology while searching for a more efficient way to extract CBD from the hem... Common industry techniques at the time included freezing drums of ethanol in walk-in freezers or soaking jugs in dry ice for 12-24 hours. Hemp was sometimes pre-chilled in small coolers so it wouldn’t raise the temperature of the ethanol. However, these techniques were not adequate...


According to Schenk, the Cryometrix liquid nitrogen chillers have significantly reduced time and labor required for extraction and distillation...


Liquid nitrogen chilling also helped to improve product quality. Because there is a limit to the amount ethanol can absorb, achieving the optimal sub-zero temperatures keeps the wax in the plant material in solid form and allows more cannabinoids to be extracted...


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