Im not sure how many people have seen the ICC obtain a master license for the Alpha affinity unit. Ive done some slight research on it. Can this international company come to North America if were federally illegal still? Will north america allow an international company take over the market? Can they bypass this since one of the companies appears to be based in NA? We all know basic economics. Highest production at the lowest cost with quality equal to competitors will create a monopoly on the market. The reason im asking this is because im going to be doing a Q&A of extraction process to a cultivation group in the north bay next week and the main guy who assembles these meetings sent me an email and asked my opinion. These questions is what i think when i see this.
I mean a press release isnt any real data. Nothing is really mentioned about the specifics of the machine.
“The Affinity Unit deploys a two-phase extraction process to facilitate the mass production of highly purified THC, CBD, CBG and terpene extracts at 10 times (“10x”) the throughput of conventional extraction technologies.”
“If you give us lots of money we’ll figure it out eventually.”
The Affinity Unit leverages patented and proprietary molecular imprinting (“MIP”) and advanced processing nanotechnologies to provide:
Near-quantitative levels of purity;
Product uniformity and predictability;
Improved durability;
Continuous process flow; and,
Nil production bottlenecks.
The above means “we assume you are impressed with words that make it sound like we know what we’re doing”
Moreover, cannabinoid losses associated with existing process steps to get to isolate will be virtually eliminated using Affinity Technology increasing yield by 40-50% depending on implementation.
This however catches my interest, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence etc.
Look at the About Us page. Bunch of lawyers and money people and a doctor who used to grow, probably on a reasonably small scale.
Not that they might not end up being successful, but this isn’t a cart is be hitching my horse to.
I’ve seen a fair number of companies/inventors claiming to have revolutionary new distillation/isolation/extraction tech. Haven’t seen any of them make it to real production. Even ones that seem reasonable, that reverse osmosis stuff for example, is so expensive… What did that guy claim? 3 year ROI? Ouch
The fact is that this article doesn’t include any actual information. It is just a bunch of buzzwords. It is kind of crazy that this article got written up as if it was a huge acquisition, when in fact, the company being acquired is unknown and has no prior history. Who paid for this article to get written?
Thanks for the replies! I thought it seemed fishy but the company worth is 450 million and how many countries it provides too. Assuming affinity is part of the unit name than I’m guessing affininity chromatography is used. Which I have not seen at least article of experimenting that with our industry. This industry is new comparared to the petroleum industry but We use the same or exact techniques/equipment they use. We also manipulate the same process variables temperature/pressure and flow/level to achieve our crude product. It’s only a matter of time till the process/chemical engineers have a do it all efficient process from trim to fill. I kind of concluded if this is snake oil and the company just did s bad investment than it’s only a matter of time it will be an all automated process.
that’s really funny you mention them, they are back at it, I was contacted by a person claiming to own part of the company, and trying to push this “new distillate cut” he sent me a few bullshit pdfs after I requested an msds and an accurate third party COA
OK I think i figured out what they are talking about here. It appears to be related to these patents, and more by the same author:
So the premise, I guess, is that they will create some kind of exchange resin (plastic), which has pores matching exactly the size and affinity of THC. You’ll then run your extraction solvent over this, these resins will absorb all the THC out and capture it, and then, I assume, you’ll run a second solvent over it to get the THC back in a purified manner (that would explain the “two phase process” line).
Thank you for looking more in depth and kudos to you for understanding what they are saying in these patetns. This is basically holographics to me as my knowledge is based on process law/theory and just starting to expand the chemistry of how/why things work.
@MagisterChemist Another theory i was thinking about yesterday could the the rotovapor be a smoke screen but is something similar. In petro world when crude oil is getting run for distillation. it is super heated before it enters 1/3 or 1/4 of the tower. When the crude hits inside the fractional it “Flashes” The lighter hydrocarbon rises as the heaver hydrocarbon lowers… Hence seperation by boiling points and is cutted away by each indvidual boiling point. LPG is first cut at the top, follow by jet fuel, diesel, gas, oil, residue. Each of those are than post process/refined to different types of what each can further be broken down to. Example LPG- Butane, propane,etc. Fractional towers have a 20 C uncontroable point in each cut so other than molecular manipulation using addtives, etc this is a reason final product can not be achieved right after fracking.
This application for the two step process i think is tthat they found to continual flow these two together as in the petro world. Fractional distillation (broken down boiling points. CBD, THC) than automated flowed to a molecular separator (chromgrapthy) or in this case affinty chromgrapthy.
For people saying this made up bs bc they wont show data. Patent secrets are real. Numbers dont lie but words do 40% better yield. But what is it getting compared to? what competitors are they comparing it to? A CLS from alibaba is different than bizzyb extractor. Time between taking crude poduct to post process is a variable also. The thing im getting to is yes its to many what ifs but facts we do have is company worth. investor information. market vaule of company rising. Countries that it is distrubuted too.
The people on future4200 is very smart and some are borderline genius. Trial and error has gotten most people to the point they are now that is on this site with a few in engineering and chemistry but as they as say there is always somebody bigger than you. If you dont believe that than ill throw in an example. THis is a process enginering book that only covers a small peice of what forumlas they need to know. These are the people who design and build our refineries
I just want to add to help simpliy this down. Most designs and equipment we are using incorrectly or the wrong one. I see this in a lot of labs For example if you have any regulation of flow in solvents you proably have a ball valve. That is the wrong type of valve its sussosbe to be a globe valve or similar type of valvbe bc gate valve design is made for opening and closing only. If you regulate with it than you are creating an uneven wear and tare to it causing leaks. A globe valve will deterate evenly. Shell and tube heat transfer is relative new in the industry but its been used for decades in petro world.
I don’t see any reason to be upset they aren’t showing data. This unit is not for sale so it’s not like they need to convince anyone. For the time being it’s for their exclusive use and so it will work well for them or perhaps it won’t, and you may not hear another word about it. Which i suppose brings up again the point of why this deserved a press release. If they do decide to mass market it down the road, they will hopefully bring more specifics to the table.
