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Cannabis Distillation Guide - Compiled by JMP

Introduction

As the cannabis industry transitions from a black market to a legal market, product development and methods of extraction have become a focal point. However, scientific publications that explore these areas for the cannabis plant are currently lacking. Explain what cannabis distillate is, why it is popular, and what are its benefits and drawbacks. Provide some background information on the history and science of cannabis distillation. Define some key terms and concepts, such as cannabinoids, terpenes, solvents, extraction, purification, and distillation.

Cannabis Extraction Methods

Cannabis Extraction Methods. Compare and contrast the different methods of extracting cannabis oil from the plant material, such as sieving, butane, CO2, ethanol, and rosin. Discuss the pros and cons of each method, the equipment and safety requirements, the yield and potency, and the quality and flavor of the resulting oil.

To make cannabis distillate, the cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids must first be extracted from the plant using a solvent such as ethanol or CO2. The cannabis must be dried to 5-15% water content, shucked from the stems, and ground to 2-300 microns for more efficient extraction¹. Once the extract is obtained, it can be distilled using a short-path distillation unit to separate the THC from other compounds.

Short path distillation vs Fractional distillation

The main difference between the two methods is the distance that the vapor travels before it is condensed. In short path distillation, the vapor travels a very short distance (typically just a few centimeters) before it is condensed. This short path length reduces the amount of distillate that is lost during the process and makes it more efficient for distilling small quantities of material.

Cannabis Purification Methods

Explain how to further refine the crude cannabis oil to remove impurities, such as waxes, lipids, chlorophyll, and residual solvents. Describe the steps of winterization, filtration, and decarboxylation. Explain how these methods affect the purity and potency of the oil.

Cannabis Distillation Methods

Cannabis Distillation Methods Describe the process of distilling cannabis oil to isolate specific cannabinoids, such as THC or CBD. Explain how short-path distillation works and what are the advantages and disadvantages of this technique. Discuss the equipment and safety requirements, the temperature and vacuum settings, the fractions and boiling points, and the purity and potency of the distillate.

Cannabis Distillate Products

Explore the different ways to use cannabis distillate in various products, such as edibles, vape cartridges, tinctures, topicals, and dabbing. Explain how to infuse distillate with terpenes or other additives to enhance the flavor and effects. Provide some recipes and tips for making your own cannabis distillate products at home.

Glossary

• Distillation is a method used to purify cannabis extracts by separating the individual compounds based on their boiling points. One common method used to create cannabis distillate is called **short path distillation**. This technique involves heating the cannabis extract to vaporize the THC and CBD, then bringing the vapor into a cooling system for consolidation and eventual collection into beakers.

• Short Path Distillation and fractional distillation are two methods used to purify and separate compounds based on their boiling points. Both methods involve heating a mixture to vaporize the individual compounds and then condensing the vapor back into a liquid.

• Fractional distillation on the other hand, involves a longer path length for the vapor to travel. The mixture is heated in a flask and the vapor rises up a fractionating column before it is condensed. The fractionating column contains packing material that provides a large surface area for the vapor to condense on. As the vapor condenses and re-vaporizes on its way up the column, it becomes increasingly enriched in the lower boiling point compound.

• extraction ...

• solvent ...

• cannabinoids ...

• terpenes ...

Resources; recommendations for further learning

Publications

PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library (Wiley) databases¹.

Websites

• Cannabis Distillate: Everything You Need to Know | Morgan Smith - PotGuide
• (1) What Is Cannabis Distillate? – Find out inside! | Green Goods. https://visitgreengoods.com/learn/cannabis-distillate/.
• (2) Cannabis Distillate: Everything You Need to Know | PotGuide.
• (3) How to Make THC Distillate: Everything You Need to Know. https://www.wikileaf.com/thestash/how-to-make-thc-distillate/.
• (4) Cannabis Distillate: What It Is and How to Make It - a Pot for Pot. https://apotforpot.com/blogs/learn/cannabis-distillate/.
• (5) Cannabis Distillate | What It Is and How To Make Distillate. https://precisionextraction.com/2018/02/making-cannabis-distillate/.

(1) A Complete Guide To Short Path Distillation - USA Lab. https://www.usalab.com/blog/a-complete-guide-to-short-path-distillation/. (2) Fractional Distillation versus Simple Distillation | B/R Blog. https://brinstrument.com/blog/cannabis-distillation/fractional-distillation-versus-simple-distillation/. (3) 5.2D: Microscale Distillation - Chemistry LibreTexts. https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Organic_Chemistry/Organic_Chemistry_Lab_Techniques_%28Nichols%29/05%3A_Distillation/5.02%3A_Simple_Distillation/5.2D%3A_Microscale_Distillation. (4) A Guide To Short Path Distillation | Precision Extraction. https://precisionextraction.com/2021/05/guide-to-short-path-distillation/. (5) Short Path Distillation & Fractional Distillation - Lab Society. https://labsociety.com/lab-equipment-category/short-path-distillation/. (1) Cannabis Distillate: Everything You Need to Know | PotGuide. https://potguide.com/blog/article/cannabis-distillate-everything-you-need-to-know/. (2) Cannabis Distillate: What It Is and How to Make It - a Pot for Pot. https://apotforpot.com/blogs/learn/cannabis-distillate/. (3) How to Make THC Distillate: Everything You Need to Know. https://www.wikileaf.com/thestash/how-to-make-thc-distillate/. (4) Cannabis Distillate | What It Is and How To Make Distillate. https://precisionextraction.com/2018/02/making-cannabis-distillate/. (5) Refine Distillate Extraction For Cannabis Products | Precision Extractions. https://precisionextraction.com/2022/02/how-to-make-distillate-extraction/. (1) Processing and extraction methods of medicinal cannabis: a narrative .... https://jcannabisresearch.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42238-021-00087-9. (2) Processing and extraction methods of medicinal cannabis: a narrative .... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8290527/. (3) Revised€Julio 2020 Cannabis (Marijuana) Research Report. https://nida.nih.gov/download/1380/cannabis-marijuana-research-report.pdf?v=7fc7d24c3dc120a03cf26348876bc1e4.

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Distillation of Cannabis

Short Path

yeah okay so we're gonna start with a hundred and eighty-three grams at this starting material here CBD 60 percent award-winning sour tsunami sour tsunami CVD we're gonna run it through the short path well chilled magnetic concentrator the month we're here with the oil tycoon concentrates pellets and we're gonna be run into the material here got the welch we're cranking over here the Dewar condenser chilled now it's time to load so I'll show you guys how we load the system we got the flask wand up to about a hundred degrees pullover how many of these Celsius is to keep things warm there's a qat of the moisture inside the long glass or anything here is our 24 degrees Celsius it's a vapor temperature in the head here we've got water running the reason we're getting some air bubbles and the condenser is we've got up missing a seal on this bottom GL connection so it's adding a little bit of oxygen into there but it's still working properly and then over here we've got the chiller warming up booze out 40 degrees Celsius and it's recirculating back in the back here we've got it connected with just some quick water lines quick so let's go ahead load the system and begin check out what I'm doing so we're just gonna fold this patty up they almost leave your hand there just that like just for reference so this is we're gonna run 183 grams watch okay so here we are just loading up quite a bit in through the metal funnel here just adding it right into the side for you could see pulling a vacuum to us assist pulling through here you're loading probably about 200 grams ish we're there a little bit more here 60% CVD 3.9 percent THC in there concentrate there we go I'll keep you guys sooner in here as we continue this process is it agitating yeah all right you guys we're back we're just starting to reach our first fraction so I figured I break the camera out and show you guys where we're at we're actually at a hundred and ninety two degrees Celsius and we're really climbing through this area however we'll reflux them pretty good this is where we're gonna start refluxing in the head here in the vigor of and essentially start to see some of your terpenes and other more volatile compounds that's our temperatures here so here you can see the consistent differet that we're achieving 192 degrees Celsius is your friend except Amana 125 degrees Celsius at the head and 125 here at 127 is climate as the thermo probe of the head here Steve now the reflux is kind of started to slow down a they grow a little bit so you can tell we're just kind of trying to reach through destruction and as soon as we get to about 2 32 to 40 we should start to see to pick up speed and really get thicker and towards also collecting a little bit absolute herbs you can see now we are getting cold traps across here in trips in the col.caf across the line things that are just not necessarily condensing in the head and are making your way of past that's allow presentation before the vacuum pumps or bastard we've got we've had the same amount there faster than we did last time you have a high volume get like what three times the volume and yeah so reaching to around six degrees Celsius and climbing so we'll catch back with you guys here in about 25 degrees alright you guys we are back I figured I'd just check in with you we broke past 220 which we we're stuck out for a little while just kind of fractioning off the terpenes which we've now rotated the flask you can see here this is where we've collected all that quite viscous I move it around you can kind of see just a little jiggle and then over onto this glass we've started to thicken up and you can just see it now dripping on in this is a CVD prominent material that we are running today this our tzunami oil tycoon and you can see the color on this middle class is just epic so we'll continue to fraction off here where again 224 Celsius on the mantle set points to 35 on the mantle by the set point is 235 you can see in the vigor oh the color in here is just like water in it so we'll wait till we get to about 235 things should thicken up a little darker in color you would expect a really uh fraction oats off some of the probably the head stash of the run here you would say now you can see the consistency what we're saying get in there get something right now that we're dripping on access window there you go look at that little nugget it's falling out look at that you guys the color on this is epic so this is the open source steel 5 litre head running on a 2 liter flask here at 2 meter manifold and the 2 liter Mansel collection Mantle's our collection class we use index around bottom for 250 milliliters to these are 250 mils on the collection flask here and then up top we've got the thermo scientific thermocouple in there we've just got a little PTFE tape to make the diameter the width that will secure down in one of these thermal adapters and then over here we've got a thermocouple that's connected connected to the mantle reading the internal temperature of the boiling back here so we'll catch back with you about 10 degrees or so all right you guys we're back I want to show you the progress that we've made here on our fractions we're getting down here these are darkening up consistently that's the molar concentration of black is remaining and the lighter pistons these are being taken out you can see here our separate fractions try to get it a different angle for you guys so down below we've got our collection flask here the 250 ml which is our most recent attraction and next up here we have a nice color and consistency in this wall here and then a final up here would be more of our terpenes and lower boiling point items here so things are coming along pretty good here we're writing down all the data and the variables throughout the head the man told a set point and remaining a fraction at 2:32 this has been a lower fraction than some of our recent runs but we're getting pretty good flow so we figured we kind of just stick here and also the temperature has been fighting considering we're getting a good amount of condensation up in the condenser here one thing to note too James is that this bottom flask is turning quite green that's probably the corridor we're down here at the very bottom canonically yeah yeah we're gonna watch and keep an eye on the color and consistency and see if we don't see some lipids and some cloudiness starting to form up on the backend of the count here yeah you can usually see it when you're looking at the bottom of the of the putter here they're receiving head you can see that it spreads out you can start to see the cloudiness form if you if you watch here I mean obviously you can watch it inside the dirt inside in the bottom class but if you watch them spreading out of the year and receiving [Music] we've got a pretty good just written out it's not the street at all right now like it has been so so further than finishing off this last fracture today moving into the next day there we go starting to flow up pretty good [Music] we'll just keep an eye on color and consistency from here on out raise the mantel temperature just a little bit but we are getting towards the bottom we don't want to run this glass dry so keep your eye on things and we'll update you guys as we finalize up yeah one thing to know to quickly put in is that this this reflection here is slowed down quite a bit it was doing it a bunch up in here him and the bumping was getting him up almost up on her shoulder I mean it's pretty good they were running this five layer head on this two liter flask I mean we've got quite a bit of bigger indentations on this one compared to the two liter and we're getting significant bumping up into the head here they're right high bar my everything looks quite a bit past the point almost up to the shoulder you know it was just enough hype there in the column to restrict that from happening and hopping over but things are looking good so stay tuned you guys and we'll finalize out this short past session key to get stated they're not much every but you guys were back here finalizing it the final fraction here did you use people and you can see how a green and nasty and dark it is we obviously don't want to be fracturing off this no longer are we getting any reflux in the bigger up column and on the tail end here we're getting a nasty cloudiness that we don't really want to be adding obviously probably adding a pretty bad visual appeal to people who might want to be using it but then again might be some compounds you don't necessarily want to be having in there in the first place so we'll probably take this ball clean this out here add some more in and just refraction and then that'd be the short path here's the middle Dragon Ball which comes out with your top shelf fine eighth grade very nice color and consistency on this here and then here is your first fraction of the terpenes with a little bit of yellow drippin Furness THC this one is a little clear in the middle but if you read refraction it put it through a second pass and sure you get well over 90% THD for sure or CVD in this case go up to wait till the tests come back on the concentrations of the compounds in there but we'll keep you guys posted hopefully enjoyed this session at short path distillation using the open source steel here hopefully you enjoyed it that's the five layer head on the two liter flask rock on the three 250 ml dragonballs on it calories fever here with the inline cold trap and over here off to the side the welch 1400 duo seal and last but not least the VW are recirculating back so we're gonna turn the head temp up to finalize things out so we're going to turn it up to about 70 degrees Celsius that'll help warm this condenser up to get this stuff to flow out of here and drip it'll get stuck here right here at the end because there's obviously no condenser we'll take it off heat it up and just drip it back into one of the dragonballs being this one here but there you go there's the finalize process hopefully enjoy so next time