Whats up guys.
Had some requests and have been playing with CBDa material.
Is there still an interest for bulk CBDa CO2 Crude?
We have had success with CO2 pulling a great looking oil. Only issue/hesitation is solvent recovery, as we haven’t been able to achieve full recovery without some conversion. Is there a sweet spot on the average roto for this? COA attached for reference.
Any input is greatly appreciated.
@MagisterChemist just released the new X-spiral membrane filtration skid which I have seen in person and is magnificent for this application-
Decarb is almost purely dependent on temperature. More vacuum and a colder condenser can solve your problem
Just to confirm, your biomass was all CBDa and no CBD?
Start from the beginning, which process do you have that involves heat and what solvent are you trying to recover? a lower boiling point solvent can always help, and if you are in an alcohol for winterization then you can do a LLE and pull your cannabinoids over to something like hexane which is easy to recover at a low temp.
Double-check biomass potency prior to extraction. Some of the CBDA has without a doubt decarb’d in the flower prior to extraction.
Since you are doing CO2 extraction, I assume the solvent removal you’re referring to is ethanol from winterization. I would also consider checking the potency post CO2 extraction prior to winterization to see if you’re decarbing in the CO2 extractor.
Keep the rotovap at <40C and evaporate solvent as quickly as possible.
Easiest way to check where the decarb is happening is to compare the CBDA:CBD ratio at each stage of the process. I’ll bet you’re decarbing slightly in the CO2 pull AND in the solvent removal step. 61:8 CBDA:CBD is pretty good.
As sk8nmidget said, LLE can selectively remove the non-acidic cannabinoids if you do it correctly. This is hard to do on large scale, though.
LLE with a Kahr Column
But the most it can do is down to a 1:1 ratio max. Would still need further recovery?
2:1 or 1:1 is perfect for crashing 
Why do you think I wanted to figure out heptane first, you can crystallize in your extraction solvent
Warm ethanol crude winterized with a membrane
Cbda should crash out pretty easy after a membrane
Supersaturation is not as important when you incorporate ultrasonics into the picture- in fact the extra saturation may be counter productive in terms of inclusions and need for extra washing steps
Minimal CBD in biomass. We are using 200 proof Etoh for winterization, so we feel conversion is happening in the Rotovap. Never thought of usuing different solvent for CBDa… might have to give hexane a shot.
Decarb during extraction didn’t even cross my mind. But with some supercrit parameters that could definitely be a possibility.
is crashed out CBDa more sought after than say a winterized CBDa crude?
We are utilizing CBDa to help prevent crystalization so this is interesting…
