Commercial Hemp Extraction

I have had two call in as many days asking about the Pros and cons of ethanol v CO2 for high volume Hemp extraction. With efficiency, scalability and profitability in mind, what are the best methods and why?

Discuss

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Have u looked into co2-expanded ethanol?
CXE-hops.pdf (683.3 KB)

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Not even a little bit. I have two customers who are looking for consulting now. Would you like me to do an email introduction?

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Pretty sure they are using cold ethanol and Pinnacles rising film.

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What’s the initial investment on a CO2 machine like that?

That’s tough to say right now because there r so few commercial options. I havent seen any machines advertised as CXE at all and only one company and one guy on instagram who explicitly say they do CXEE. but i know this machine https://www.azoth.solutions/copy-of-xact-xtract-new-page is the closest out there even tho it says its a “liquid CO2” extractor. That being said i can and am building a system that can process 6 lbs a batch (dont wanna say times or rates yet but could be as little as 1 hour per batch not including getting it to temperature) for around 10 g’s

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Azoth is @Jonaaronbray btw

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I would also like to know any info about this if anyone has any, seems like a lot of the midwest states might start allowing hemp growing and extraction this year so I’m sure there will be a lot of business for everyone if that happens.

For a certified facility, $250k will get you a turn key, cold ethanol extraction and recovery system, capable of extracting at least 50kg of flower/hr

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I dont know how i missed this but I would love to talk to anybody thats interested in CXE. I cant really claim expertise at this point but i dont think anyone really can honestly claim that they are at this point since there are no marketed solutions. That being said I havent talked to anybody more qualified than me in this topic with specific focus on cannabis. I know they must be out there but I can’t find any entity that has put out any specifics at all.

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Do you have any recommendations for good manufacturers of large scale ethanol extractors?

Depends on what you mean by large scale. Up to 500lbs/hr large vats and centrifuges make sense. After that solvent volumes get tricky, so something like Deutsch Process comes into play

Somewhere around 50kg/hour will be more than plenty for most cannabis extraction operations. The biggest THC processor we know of right now is processing upwards of 10,000 kilos of trim per month via CO2 extraction (6 x 20L extractors running 24/7). 50kg/hour processing capabilities would drastically reduce their labor cost…and at a fraction of the cost of their current systems. (if 250k is typical for that size ethanol extractor). I think their CO2 extractors run a little under 500k each.

I would think most medium scale cannabis processors would benefit from a system that can process 10-20kilo/hour.

I know delta separations has a medium scale system that looks very efficient, but they are still in production and will be ready in Q3 and Q4 of 2018. I really like the idea of inline dewaxing in the ethanol to save even more processing time compared to CO2.

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Ahh this topic is titled Commercial Hemp Extraction, which is what I thought you were talking about. My bad. Ya I really like Delta sep for small scale THC!

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yea I like the cup as well. seems very utilitarian.

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I never understood why they run it warm. One cold wash and one subsequent warm wash would make more sense. Otherwise it’s perfect for the job. I hate unloading bags and using the lil’ Hobart haha

its referred to as close loop but it seems more like a batch process. is it truly a loop or do they just mean that it has a solvent recovery component. when i think of closed loop ethanol i think of this cryogenic soxhlet apparatus that i have read about were the same ethanol contacts the material and is distilled and chilled to cryo temps multiple times during an extraction. Im not saying i want a closed loop i think the way they did it is better but calling something at a “closed loop” throws me off
cryogenicVacuumSoXaletUS20160228787A1.pdf (995.9 KB)

What company has a turnkey, cold ethanol extractor, and recovery system that has capabilities of 50+kg/hr for $250k? Whats the lead time?

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I assume @future means he can find off the shelf parts to assemble a complete system for that price (including his fee :slight_smile: ). Which seems reasonable to me.

Given the number of ways ethanol can be done, you can almost pick a price and a scale, rather than just a scale.

Edit: lead time is a bitch in this industry. What would you like to see? Is 6weeks reasonable?

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6 weeks is hard. To be honest, the lead time for stupid things like a heating mantle from glas-col can be like 8 weeks. And it sure fluctuates. Or even if the stainless vessel is assembled in the US, I bet you the stainless roll it was made from took several weeks getting here on the boats from china. Those days here and there add up quickly.

On the other side, I’ve worked with people who will complain about a 16 week lead time and still can’t pay 2 months after that…making the lead time kind of pointless if it isn’t paid off.