For those in the cannabinoid processing realm, delivering the cleanest extract is of utmost importance. The purity of an extract is revealed by assay and is expressed as weight percent cannabinoids. Obviously, the higher the weight percent, the more potent the extract. How does one get a high weight percent? Well, this is extraction method specific, but most labs use Winterization as a purification step. We don’t use winterized oil, because we don’t have to, as explained below.
Most extraction techniques of hemp/cannabis rely on a brute force attack: extract everything possible from the plant, then move forward with the crude. These methods (CO2, hydrocarbons, ethanol), extract a bunch more unwanted stuff (like plant waxes and chlorophyll) than what is desired. Processors need to increase the amounts of cannabinoids in the wax-like crude, while removing unwanted waxes. The procedure they use is called winterization.
Winterized Oil – What is Winterization?
Winterization is simply an ethanol based, temperature and differential solubility dependent method to remove plant waxes. The crude wax-like extract produced by most extraction methods is dissolved in ethanol, then chilled to -40 oC for several days. The waxes are not soluble in ethanol at this temperature, and precipitate from the solution. The mixture is then filtered or decanted to remove the solids, and the resultant ethanol filtrate is concentrated on a rotary evaporator.
This is a highly inefficient way to purify the crude extract. Several days are wasted while the winterization is ageing at -40 oC, then the filtration to remove the waxes can be slow. Of course, all these manipulations cause yield loss. A rather medieval method to improve flawed extraction protocols.
We do not need to perform any post processing steps, including winterization, since our novel methods do not extract plant waxes. Thus, we obtain 70-80 weight percent cannabinoids in our extract, which is ready for use without further purification.
Winterization will soon become obsolete, as more effective processing techniques take over (like ours). If you have any questions on winterized oil feel free to contact us!
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