Hemp Extraction
Hemp Extraction can be done in many ways. From solvent to solventless the goal is the same. Separation of the cannabionid and terpene profile from the biomass material. This articular will outline the extraction processes we utilize at Agronomics USA's to create our high quality fully winterized and decarboxylated Crude oil.
Our process starts with the intake of biomass. At intake all biomass material is first tested to be under 10% moisture by our in house moisture content analyses equipment and sent to an independent third party testing to confirm its free of pesticides. We then mill the biomass material and packaging the material in to our fine micron centrifuge bags. These bags are then loaded into our centrifuge based ethanol extraction equipment. The biomass is then soaked with ethanol and agitated. During this process the ethanol saturates the biomass material absorbing the cannabinoid and terpene profile from the biomass. At this point the biomass is discarded, and we are left with a hemp rich extract and ethanol mixture called Solute. The solute is frozen for 24 hours to -20C to allow the fats, waxes, and lipids to consolidate before filtration. Each individual batch undergoes a 3-stage filtration process to remove all the fats, waxes, and lipids that are picked up during the extraction process. Once filtered, we then utilize falling film evaporation to recover the majority of the ethanol from the extraction process. The crude oil then undergoes a decarboxylation process which converts the acidic forms of cannabinoids that the plant produces naturally into their activated forms, and recovers the remaining ethanol. At this stage the biomass material has been processed into the industry standard of winterized decarboxylated crude oil. Before sale or further processing each batch is then sent to an independent third party tested to be rich in cannabinoids, solvent free, and fully decarboxylated.