There are many techniques that can be used to separate all the different components of cannabis. Using these extraction techniques, many different parts of marijuana can be isolated - all of which contain different chemicals. This helps bring out the more desirable compounds present in cannabis so that they can be used in a variety of applications.

There are more than 113 cannabinoids that can be isolated from the cannabis plant. Among them, the more popular ones are cannabidiol (buy Supercritical CO2 Extraction machine) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

In addition to this, there are many cannabis compounds that contain more than one of these cannabinoids and are known as whole plant extracts.

The process is not a simple one. It is an exact science and cannot be compared to cooking. In addition to specific knowledge about the plant, the process requires laboratory equipment and proper safety measures.

The process needs to be carried out with great care so that the final product is safe for human use.

Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction is one of the many techniques applied to cannabis extraction.

Before delving into more details about this form of extraction, it is important to briefly understand other techniques that are widely used for cannabis extraction.

Extracted cannabis resin

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Types of Cannabis Extraction Methods

There are many different methods commonly used to extract cannabis. They differ in terms of the type of solvent used, laboratory conditions, equipment used, etc. Some of the more popular methods of cannabis extraction are mentioned below.

Alcohol extraction

In this technique, the plant material is first immersed in a solvent, most commonly ethanol, which is then removed in order to filter the liquid.

Once the filtration process is underway, the alcohol is removed by evaporation. Removal of chlorophyll from the plant extract is important because it can be dissolved by the solvent, leaving the remaining product with a bitter taste.

The process is performed under strict supervision because ethanol - or the use of any form of alcohol - is very flammable. One of the reasons for the popularity of this method is that the final extract does not have any toxic residual chemicals.

Butane or Propane Extraction

In this extraction method, a solvent such as butane or propane is used. If the former is used, the cannabis and liquid butane are placed in a controlled system (heated and pressurized) in which the butane solvent is removed by first converting it to vapor. There are some safety concerns when using this method.

For example, butane is highly flammable even in its gas phase. If the temperature is not observed, an explosion may occur. In addition, if some butane or propane remains in the extract, it could be very harmful if consumed by humans.

Solvent-free extraction

These are more basic techniques when it comes to cannabis extraction, as they do not use any solvents to extract some of the desirable plant components. Instead, the product is separated from the cannabis by simply grinding it and passing it through a sieve.

Another basic extract of cannabis is hashish, also known as marijuana. This involves separating the trichomes from the rest of the plant material.

This is done because most of the desired compounds are actually in this part. Finally, rosin is another solvent-free cannabis extract that has become popular in the past few years.

Carbon Dioxide Extraction

The final extraction technique to be discussed here (and will be discussed in more detail throughout this article) is CO2 extraction. As with other solvent-based extraction techniques, it does not use the alcohol form, but instead uses carbon dioxide.

This extraction method is superior to other extraction methods because the method has higher yields and less loss of the desired compounds. The main problem with this form of extraction is the cost of putting together all the equipment required for this technique.