A Brief Guide to Cannabis Decarboxylation

Cannabis and hemp have been illegal across many parts of the world for many years, however in recent years the legalities have been gradually changing across the globe. Wholesale legislative changes have taken place in the USA and Canada, shifting an illicit, illegal market into a legitimate, multi-billion dollar industry.

Products which are based on cannabinoid extractions are increasing in value significantly. CBD oil in particular is finding popularity as a medicinal and therapeutic product and one of the key areas of debate in the sale of CBD products is that of virgin versus decarb CBD oil.

What is Decarboxylation?

Decarboxylation is a critical process in cannabis production and consumption. It occurs when cannabis is cured, allowing the THCA (Tetrachydrocannabinolic Acid) or CBDA (Cannabidolic Acid) inside cannabis buds to be converted to THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) or CBD (cannabidol). This process is a chemical reaction which removes a carboxyl group with heat or chemicals.

The Process of Decarboxylation

Traditionally, solvent recovery and decarboxylation systems are complicated, modular setups which are made up of a number of interconnected instruments. Decarboxylation traditionally needs a large reactor with a chiller, another chiller for the condenser, and a vacuum pump. This is to decarboxylate over long periods of around 8-10 hours.

Other decarboxylation equipment such as vacuum ovens take even longer, between 14 and 24 hours and has a limited capacity. These setups are both large, taking up greater space in workplaces and are expensive, requiring intervention from users to ensure the greatest results are yielded.

Decarboxylation systems which have a reactor and chiller take a long time due to the use of thermal fluid to heat extracts to the correct decarb temperature. Using this method takes a long time as it leads to inefficient heat transfer and heat loss.

Decarboxylation Solutions from Ecodyst

At Ecodyst, we are experts in organic chemistry and have created a new evaporation system which can be used in both solvent recovery and decarboxylation. Our software uses direct-cooling technology in conjunction with continuous feeds to preserve vacuum conditions across the entire extraction process. Our EcoChyll® range of evaporators outperform traditional decarboxylation systems in many ways.

Not only are decarboxylation solutions from Ecodyst cheaper than the traditional solutions, but the EcoChyll® line is able to decarb comparable amounts of cannabis oils in less than two hours. This is largely due to the efficient heating mantle design that can get to optimal decarboxylation temperatures in a few minutes whilst keeping a steady heat.

This heating mantle means that our actual volume evaporators and the EcoChyll® intelligent self-cooling technology only need a single action to start continuous decarboxylation of large amounts of sample materials at extraordinary scales.

Ecodyst offers evaporation systems appropriate for all levels of cannabis decarboxylation. If you would like to find out more about our products, contact us today.