The most significant pharmaceutical constituents of female Cannabis Indica (resinous drug types) are phytotoxic terpenoid alkylresorcinols. External flower cell walls extrude Trichome (hair-like) structures with ~100 μ waxy vesicles filled with terpene oleoresin solution containing the phytocannnabinoids.<br/>Batches of freshly harvested flowers pass through a tunnel freezer that causes the waxes of the exposed Trichome heads to solidify and stalks to become brittle. These cold fresh flowers loaded into a rotary sieve trommel inside a cylindrical vacuum RF drying chamber. The inner wall of the trommel is a 200 μ screen which will selectively sieve loosed Trichome heads from the bulk. The loaded chamber is evacuated and purged with metered expansion of cold Nitrogen through an air knife, heads are collected in dust collection cyclone before the vacuum pump. Vacuum is deepened and radio frequency heating is employed to evaporate internal volatile organics and gently boil as much water out from the plant feedstock as possible. Vapors generated are condensed or frozen and collected in multiple stages of cryogenic traps before the vacuum pumps. These hydrosol-like water and volatile essential oil mixture are stored in a cryofreezer and centrifuged (Beckman Coulter). Dried plant feedstock in the trommel is grated and milled and compressed under vacuum into pressure vessels using hydraulic ram for liquid and supercritical Carbon Dioxide extraction. The liquid Carbon Dioxide extract still contains bound water which is separated from oils and waxes by warm jacketed tubular bowl centrifuge (Alfa Sharples / Petulfo Split). The supercritical fluid Carbon Dioxide crude extract and melted Trichome heads from the trommel are oils and waxes, which are dewatered by evaporator (LCI) and blended with 95% Ethanol using an inline sheer homogenizer (Quadro), then bulk of wax is separated in cold jacketed solids collecting disc stack dewaxing centrifuge (Alfa Laval). Ethanol is evaporated from dewaxed oil under vacuum in rotary evaporator (Buchi). Oil and wax fractions are separately, repeatedly distilled using short path wiped film evaporators (Pope / Chemtech / VTA) until molecular-scale cannabinoid distillate is obtained. If pesticide contamination is likely, chromatographic purification can be employed.

Industrial-scale cannabis indica drug processing

255th National Meeting (2018)

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