Temperature Control for Short Path Distillation of Cannabinoids

Cannabinoid Solvent Extraction Technology:

Learn how to extract the most common cannabinoids in cannabis for the responsible, efficient, and professional manufacture of medicinal cannabis and cannabis products, as regulation and quality control become increasingly important as there are more players in the market.
 
Cannabis has a long history as a medicinal plant, possibly dating back more than two thousand years. Today, a growing body of scientific research shows that cannabinoids are highly effective in treating conditions such as pain, spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis, nausea, post-traumatic stress disorder, cancer, epilepsy, cachexia, glaucoma , HIV/AIDS and degenerative neurological diseases.
The most commonly used CBD extraction tool is the cdu 1000 distillation. This article will tell you the process of extracting CBD by the advantages of short path distillation.

 

THC and CBD in cannabis:

More than 480 active compounds have been isolated from cannabis, one third of which belong to the cannabinoid family. THC and CBD are the most common and most studied cannabinoids, as the levels of these two components have a large impact on the effectiveness of medical products derived from cannabis.
THC in cannabis
Separately, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) is considered psychoactive, while cannabidiol (CBD) is known for its medicinal potential. In fact, THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis, is responsible for stimulating specific receptors in the brain, causing effects and changes such as reducing pain and inflammation, increasing appetite, nausea, and insomnia.
 
CBD in hemp
CBD, on the other hand, is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid, meaning it does not cause psychoactive effects. A growing body of research is proving its effectiveness in relieving symptoms such as anxiety, inflammation, pain, and treating several neurological disorders. In 2018, the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) approved the first cannabidiol (CBD)-based drug for the treatment of epilepsy conditions. CBD can also be turned into an oil and used as a healing salve.
 
The importance of efficient extraction and analysis of cannabinoids:
The concentration of active compounds in cannabis depends on many factors, from variety, age, tissue type, growing conditions to harvest time and storage conditions. As countries around the world have legalized recreational and medicinal cannabis, cannabis products need to be tested for labelling and quality control.
 
For example, in most European countries, there is no upper limit for CBD, but there is a maximum limit for THC, between 0.1 and 1%. In the United States, potency testing of cannabis and cannabis products is required, and several regulations and pharmacopeia reference methods have been developed. In this case, extraction and analysis of the most common cannabinoids ensures the quality of cannabis products to meet legal requirements and consumer needs. Some medical patients may want a strain with a higher CBD:THC ratio, while adult-use consumers may demand the opposite. Efficient extraction of cannabis oil samples for further potency, pesticide and heavy metal analysis testing is critical for producers, manufacturers and laboratories analyzing cannabis products in an expanding and increasingly competitive market.

How to extract CBD?

Crushing and drying the extracted part of cannabis to obtain medicinal powder;
Extracting the medicinal powder with 30-100% (V/V) ethanol to obtain an extract;
The extract is concentrated to obtain an extract;
The extract is subjected to water precipitation to remove impurities to obtain a water precipitation liquid;
Centrifuge the water sediment, add 10-100% (V/V) ethanol to the precipitate obtained by centrifugation to dissolve, to obtain an alcohol solution of the precipitate;
subjecting the alcoholic solution of the precipitate to column chromatography;
Concentrating the eluate obtained in step 6), adding ethanol to supersaturate and dissolving to obtain crystals;
The crystallized product is added to purified water or ethanol for washing to obtain the first product;
The first product described in step 8) is mixed with purified water and dried to obtain cannabidiol

How to control the temperature of CBD extraction?

●Short-path distillation relies on the difference in the mean free path of molecular motion to achieve separation, and does not need to reach the boiling point of the material. In addition, the operating vacuum degree of short-path distillation is relatively high, which further reduces the operating temperature.
 
●Short path distillation cannabinoids temperature during the evaporation process, the material is forced to form a very thin liquid film and is pushed in a direction, so that the liquid stays in the separator for a short time. For example, light molecules condense as soon as they escape, and the heating time is short, usually a few seconds or ten seconds. In this way, the thermal damage of the material is very small, and the separation process of heat-sensitive substances provides operating conditions that cannot be compared with traditional distillation.
 
●In terms of vacuum degree control, in order to stabilize the vacuum degree at a predetermined value, a gas flow controller can be used for feedback control, and the purpose of maintaining a stable vacuum degree can be achieved by adjusting the air intake and air output.
 
If the vacuum degree control adopts closed-loop control, as long as the vacuum degree of the liquid ring vacuum pump and the rotary vane vacuum pump is maintained at a negative pressure, the vacuum degree of the short-path distiller is kept stable by connecting the gas flow controller in series and using the gas flow controller. .
 
●Short path distillation cannabinoids temperature technology can improve the operational difficulties of ordinary distillation environment. Since short-path distillation only needs to be between the hot and cold surfaces, when the temperature difference is reached, separation can be carried out at different temperatures. The traditional distillation needs to strictly follow the boiling point of the material to carry out related operations, which is not only time-consuming and laborious, but also difficult to master.
 
The above is what FBL provides you about cbd extraction. If you want to know more about short-steam distillation technology, please leave a message below or contact us by email. FBL Laboratory Equipment Co., Ltd. is here to serve you wholeheartedly!

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