Hey all,
I have been sitting on this thought for a while since entering cannabis/hemp a few years ago. I’ll try to keep this short and simple but it may wander off topic a bit at times.
Cannabis and Hemp waste terpenes as chemical feed stocks to the polyamide and construction chemical Industry Discussion
Terpenes are ubiquitous molecules found in conifers, some insects, many types of plants, fruits, vegetables, and you guessed it - cannabis and hemp. When I graduated university, one of the first job interviews I had was with an industrial construction chemical company. That company does not exist anymore due to the new trend of hedge fund acquisition en masse of chemical firms with orphan molecule patents as well as umbrella corporations absorbing smaller corporations to expand nationwide. This company was built to make use of the chemical feedstocks of other companies who produce products that we use all over the world every day - namely paper. The papermaking industry produces insane amounts of terpenes and pitch yearly and those chemical feedstocks are purchased by other companies to make construction compounds and industrial compounds such as polyamides, paints, adhesives, thinners, sealants, asphalt additives, fuel detergents for diesel engine alternatives to sulfur and much more.
Terpenes are also made by other industries, so why are ours of value? This is what I want to discuss. Industrial citrus makes limonene and some of its isomers en masse from their concentrates facilities that run falling film/rising film tower type evaporators. These are sold to the cleaning industry for scent molecules that you find in Pledge and similar products, which was something I was told while speaking with a former (old timer) citrus manufacturing worker from Florida. Terpinenes (pinene isomers) are being produced as waste products from the papermaking industry, as mentioned before. But what is the value of a mixture of some of these terpenes in drum mass to chemical companies like the ones described above who have found use for their chemical feedstocks? Is CBD/THC/CBds contamination an issue? Are mere drum amounts of chemical feedstocks still child’s play in the world of construction chemical corporations?
One obvious answer is biofuels and selling to biofuel companies. Another obvious answer is having chemical companies charge you insane fees for removing drums of waste. What do you guys think?
To be clear, I am speaking of the not-so-great smelling, clear, light green terpene mixture that comes off of a wiped film evaporator terpene stripping process. These terpenes would never be of value for flavoring. If you have ever ran a terp profile of crude, you have a good idea of the composition of one of these said drums of terpene feedstock byproduct or waste.
Best,
NewLevel