Maltodextrin based dissolvable THC powder, any tips/help/SOPs?

Hash and Stuff Edibles
1

Hi everyone. In our R&D kitchen we are starting to get ready to make some dissolvable thc powder. Interested in a straight up flavorless dissolvable powder, and also interested in making drink mixes in powder form.
I know maltodextrin is often used for the flavorless thv powder that dissolves in water. Is it much more complicated than mixing some disty with some lecithin and maltodextrin, sifting it and letting dry? or am i missing something?

and if i were to make some flavored drink mixes, does anyone have any SOPs, formulations, recipes, or general tips and advice? maybe a good youtube vid you reccomend?

the flavorless dissolve powder seems easy enough, not too sure on the flavored drink mix tho.

tia!

2 Likes
2

Yes and no, the workflow is basically correct, but you will need a good quality sonicator in order to create your emulsion and produce particles that are <0.2um in order to make it water soluble, and a bottle top filter in order to filter your particles for the correct size.

7 Likes
3

There are surfactants made that turn into a powder. Message me, I can help you with locating it and an sop if you’d like.

7 Likes
4

Look into a speedmixer (flaktek or hauschild). You’ll need high g-force to make the mix.

3 Likes
5

we have a DK sonic ultrasonic cleaner we use to clean D9 jars. Is this what you mean? or some other sonicator set up? i guess im not quite sure how the sonicator would be used to create an emulsion.

1 Like
6

These are pretty highly reviewed, Cole Parmer as well. Not a cheap bit of kit.

2 Likes
7

You need something to mix powder with the distillate.

3 Likes
8

If I were doing this, I would do the following steps:

  • Liquid formulation with required surfactants, maltodextrin and target small molecule (THC in this case)
  • Send through sonicator to ensure the best homogenization and smallest particle size you can get, a high shear homogenizer should also work as well here
  • Send final formulation through vacuum spray dryer to attain powder
6 Likes
9

so its not just as simple as mixing distillate with the maltodextrin powder and sifting it?

2 Likes
10

Perhaps garage/ghetto Tek

Food grade solvent? Maybe?:wink: Maybe even keep sealed to avoid azeotroping.

Mix solvent with disty at 2:1, add malto and evap off.

This will clump if not dehydrated extensively and kept in a hermetic container once again, back fill to preserve

Vac ovens are our friend

3 Likes
11

I wouldn’t say so if the goal is to have a properly encapsulated molecule. If all you did was mix distillate and a ton of maltodextrin together, I think you would find that sifting it may not necessarily stop the material from reclumping due to the sticky nature and you may also find that when you add said powder to a liquid to dissolve it, the maltodextrin may dissolve readily but the THC may now separate.

Now, I’ve never just mixed distillate and maltodextrin so who knows if there is some interaction that would be similar to creating a nanoemulsion first and then vacuum spray drying, but my gut reaction tells me that you would just end up with a somewhat sticky powder that would not readily remain soluble in water with no other process to reduce particle size and ensure a surfactant system is in place along with the carrier (maltodextrin).

Try it and see what happens, it’s seems like a pretty cheap experiment. Mix distillate with maltodextrin, sift it, dissolve in water and see what happens. My money is on distillate separating from the water and not remaining water soluble but I’ve been wrong before.

5 Likes
12

Agreed, on both the “try it!!”, and on the expected results (because I have tried it).

It will get you to a SKU, not clear it’s one you’re (@ohioedibles is) gonna want to run with for long.

4 Likes
13

Maltodextrin, disty, heat and a sonicator will get you a water soluble paste, that will stay in solution for a few hours. It’s pretty unappetizing to look at, and if you go to end product it will eventually seperate. You really need a surfactant.

4 Likes
14

Does sonicating with maltodextrin yield an extremely bitter product like the off the shelf emulsifiers do? I understand it is a function of particle size that contributes to the bitter, but goddamn the stuff I made was so fucking bitter that I gave up on water soluble.

3 Likes
15

The maltodextrin is probably the least bitter option. It is also pretty easy to get rid of with some flavonoids/bitter blockers

3 Likes
16

How homogeneous do you think that’s going to be?

17

We used ~2% propanediol when we used the all in one nano optimizer stuff. It seemed to help, but not much even at maximum allowable amounts. We were at 1:3 oil:surfactant. We weren’t even concerned about particle size. Just wanted the damn thing to be palatable at higher concentration in drink mixes.

3 Likes
18

I have SOPs and recipes for flavored and unflavored THC powders. Everything from info on surfactant systems, to nano-emulsions and sonicators, to final product formulation. Looks like some other folks have already offered their knowledge so hopefully you got the help you need. But if not feel free to shoot me a message to discuss further. Best of luck!

5 Likes
19

wow thank you everyone for the input! it seems there is a knowledge gap i need to close first. silly me thinking things would be easy :slight_smile:

any help pointing me in the right direction as to what i should educate myself on would be much appreciated!! i will also probaby go thru each of these replies and get back to them by the end of the day. currently putting out (literal) fires at work today lol

3 Likes
20

Hope you and yours are okay, brother!

2 Likes