Before weed butter, THC tinctures, or CBD oils can be bought, they must be extracted from the cannabis plant first. You can know more about the oil on this site here. This is a tedious process that needs high-quality equipment. The machines should remove the compounds without destroying the nutrients and components that are still inside the stalks, leaves, flowers, or stems.
Just like any piece of equipment, many manufacturers wanted to know more about the extraction machines. They wanted to know which ones are going to bring them the best value for their money.
Many are going for the large machines because they are mass-producing the cannabis oil for industrial uses. Others prefer extraction devices that have the same size as a kettle for personal use. Many are using solvents, while there are others still who want to use alcohol. All of them have their pros and cons, and you can know more about them below.
About the Cannabis Extraction
The process of CO2 extraction can be expensive, but it will be worth the investment. With the right kind of cannabis extraction equipment, manufacturers get the highest yield and high-quality CBD oil in the process. The machines themselves turn the pressures and high heat into supercritical gas and enable higher returns in the process.
Fortunately, many companies are getting automation in many states today, which has significantly improved the extraction process. With decreased human intervention, there are also lower chances of repeats and getting faulty products.
With the other technologies focusing on the entire system getting automation in the cannabis industry, the products, and the oil extracts are becoming more in the process. The system is incorporating automated controls that remove the need for manual valves. They are designed to make the unload and load times shorter, and this has increased capacities and overall production.
Many manufacturers today even claim that many are processing more than 15 pounds of cannabis in just a space of 3 hours because of the new streamlined process. These are run continuously by batches, and they can enable at least six runs a day without the owners’ presence.
Some of the pros that you need to look out for are the following:
- Small footprints
- Lower energy costs during operations
- Automatic loading times when it comes to batches
- The system is user-friendly overall
- Not required to use harmful solvents
The cons to know are the following:
- The machines are often relatively expensive
- Carbon dioxide gases should be carefully stored
- High-pressure operations can affect utility bills
- A relatively complex process compared to adding alcohol or solvents
- Not for small-scale businesses or personal use
Other Machines to Know
In many extractions, there will always be something that needs to be improved for the more efficient production of cannabis oil. With many extraction systems in the market today, it does not come as a surprise when others want to tweak and add improvements a bit to make their machines stand out from the competition.
This is the case with the ones that can perform extraction of cannabinoids and terpenes at supercritical levels. The process can be done by pressing a few buttons and adjusting some controls in the settings. The throughput’s scalability and flexibility are desirable for many manufacturers because the cannabis industry is a fast-paced one. Learn more about a throughput here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throughput. Many companies need to improve because their competitors are scaling up their products in just a few weeks.
Some of the pros that you need to look for in the terpenes and cannabinoid extraction machines are:
- They leave a relatively low footprint
- The sizes are usually suitable for an average-scale manufacturer
- There’s the capacity for scaling when the sales are good
- Add-ons are present to promote more functionality
- Does not also require harmful solvents like butane
The cons are the following:
- Some of the designs are not automated, primarily if they are meant to be used for a full day
- Careful storage of CO2 gases
- Operation is at a higher pressure
- Not for companies that operate at a larger scale
Processing Powers
What you need is equipment that is well-known for its processing power. These can be the latest machines from legitimate companies out there, and the capable processors may give you a yield of about 107 pounds of biomass in 24 hours.
The extractors often have the features of getting a rapid change-over while operating, and they can do up to 5,000 psi for maximum capacities. You can expect, though, that they can range from $170,000 to $200,000 as this is a machine that’s tightly controlled in a laboratory environment, and it should be put into a well-ventilated space.
These expensive machines are going to be excellent for large-scale operations. The closed-loop structures have almost a 95% recapture rate of carbon dioxide, which can save the manufacturers a lot more when they are doing the extractions 24 hours.
You may also want to look for features like fast terpene captures, energy efficiency, and no internal moving parts for fewer chances of failure. The plant biomass that these kinds can process can be up to 200 pounds per day, and this can tackle some of the most significant workloads in the industry, which helps the products be more affordable. They are equipped with storage tanks, and they can perform subcritical extractions to result in various cannabis products.
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