Botanical Extraction

The extraction process is employed to extract cannabinoids like THC and CBD, as well as other valuable compounds like terpenes from biomass. The process may use different solvents or combinations of solvents, including LPG (butane, propane, isobutane), ethanol, CO2, and water. The biomass is soaked in the solvent and separated from the solvent by light heat. The biomass in this stage is kept at low temperatures to reject unwanted compounds from the extracts, like chlorophyll, to reduce the downstream purification burden or to produce a product that can be immediately packaged and sold. While dry ice is sometimes used to cool columns, some processors choose to employ a reliable and powerful Integral process circulator to hold their extraction columns as low as -90 °C and save money in the long term. The Integral product line features dedicated heaters for evaporating solvent and ultra cold chillers to power systems of all sizes.

Decarboxylation, a fundamental process in cannabis, involves a controlled heating of flowers or the THC-A oleoresin to release a carboxylic acid as CO2, making the compound psychoactive. CBD-A can similarly be decarboxylated, and is routinely done as part of the process in making CBD isolate, but does not change the psychoactive properties of the compound. The decarboxylation process reduces the compounds mass by about 12%, which leads to a reduced final load weight, depending on the crude extract’s purity. There are a few methods to decarboxylation: Hot plates or small short path distillation units for small loads, rotary evaporators and vacuum ovens for medium loads, and large reactors at 50% capacity for large batches. LAUDA products can be employed in many parts of the decarboxylation process, including running the heating for the reactor jackets, or cooling the condenser coils, ensuring no terpenes are lost and that your laboratory space remains free of noxious fumes. Our Integral and PRO product lines have the power and pumping speed to keep up with these demanding processes, with process programmability, an available range of -90 to 320 °C and power where it’s needed.