Overwhelmed consumer

Help Support and Requests
#1

Hopefully this is the right category…as a scientist by trade and CBD consumer I’m trying to understand the products that I’m using and how they are prepared from plant to consumer product. I’ve seen shatter, isolate, oil, vape oil, etc which high CBD content, low THC content but anytime I request more information from the vendor and producer about their methodology, I hit a wall. I’ve researched the different techs like CO2 supercritical, volitile extractions, SPD, etc but not sure how they all fit together for the various products.

I’ve got the following questions:

  1. Processing raw hemp for CBD end products, what steps are employed for the different types of products?
  2. Would a typical process be something like supercritical C02 > SPD? Where do the vacuum ovens come into play and what purpose does that serve?
  3. For CBD end products, how is THC removed?
  4. Is the industry in a place now where a small amount of labs are contracted to perform these extractions and distillations to the vendors specs? IE many consumer products are produced out of the same labs.

I’ve gained tons of info from this forum and will keep reading but wanted to put some of these basic questions out there. Responses and avenues for further research are much appreciated.

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#2

This is definitely the place for that, I hit the same wall in my hunt for live recipes and diamond recipes… But finally I found this wonderful place… Give it couple days, it won’t take long

Btw if you do search I think I read one about The topic here, although I’m not exactly sure, I don’t remember imagine that :joy:

And good luck in your endeavors!!!

O yeah search for CBD here, bunch great ones on crystallization and couple others!

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#3
  1. huge question. answers are a moving target.
  2. if doing CO2 > SPD, there are no vac ovens involved. those are for shatter.
  3. either by crystallization, or not removed. the right genetics helps.
  4. not there yet. but hemp/cbd looks to be moving that way quickly.

many folks are quite proprietary about their methodology. especially for isolate (purified crystalline CBD). At a guess because they’re using variations on GW’s tek.

there are some GW pharmaceuticals patents in the data dump. have you looked around in there yet?

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#4

Thanks folks! Yeah this place is a huge resource and I’m slowly getting through the data dump area.

So is co2 just an alternative to bho? Is the end product any different despite the use of a volitile gas? If using a vacuum oven, does all the butane evaporate?

Also, about CBD isolate, this is a cystalline form, correct? Is that an end product of spd?

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#5

+1 on using the search function and self education - You are going to find a ton of informational posts here.

If you feel too overwhelmed head over to
https://future4200.com/c/cannabis-business/ for consulting services.
A 1 hour conversation with @Future or @Plant2pipe (co2 expert) will go a looooong way it looks like.

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#6

long time no talk and ur still here talking me up, so awesome as usual :slight_smile:

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#7

We love your knowledge!

#8

CO2 is an alternative to Hydrocarbons or Alcohol as a solvent.

BHO is “Butane Honey Oil” or “Butane Hash Oil” depending on who you talk to. It’s color and consistency when decarboxylated (activated) can be similar to honey.

If properly purged (which usually requires a vac oven) hydrocarbons can be removed to below 10ppm.

CO2/Hydrocarbon/Alcohol and even solvent free extracts can be taken to fairly similar end points.

They can all be used to create feedstock for “short path distillation”, which describes a concept as well as a set of equipment for performing the task. There are other ways of performing fractional distillation of cannabiniods, and many larger labs use “wiped film” or “Spinning band” apparatus for the task. @Beaker uses a “sublimator” and has posted all his work-ups for high potency THC.

Distillation is not required to achieve CBD isolate, but you can get presumably get there via that route.

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