the extraction process

Ever wondered how CBD is extracted from Hemp?

Hemp CBD Oil is the latest health product to hit the shelves. It’s being advertised like snake oil to cure ills. Not quite but it does offer enormous benefits. It is extracted from the ‘Hemp’ plant. A non-intoxicating plant. Safe for you and your whole family.

We love all things Hemp at Big Chief.

What is the best extraction process for CBD Oil?

Ultimately the three main ways to extract CBD.

Oil Extraction
CO2 Extraction
Solvent Extraction

With pros and cons to each method. CBD Extraction is a highly skilled process. It can take a lot of expensive equipment.

A company in Canada use a large wooden screw to press the buds. It’s a natural and traditional method dating back hundreds of years. This is our favourite method because it’s a whole plant extract.

The hemp flowers are soaked in refined oil, usually Coconut Oil. Coconut oil is chosen because it’s a thin oil. Damp buds are popped into the top of a funnel and dropped through to the screw. The screw is turned and the buds are pressed. Tightly pressed so Hemp oil comes out the other side. CBD Oil resembles the consistency of honey with a green tinge. The end product is a beautiful golden-green juice. A full plant extract with the CBDs, flavonoids and Terpenes.

CBD oil CO2 extraction process

Below is a simplified version of the process

CO2 is Carbon Dioxide, compressed air. It is a gas that consists of one part carbon & two parts oxygen. It’s Non-combustible and nontoxic. I’ll try and cut through the science of the CBD oil CO2 extraction process.

In a Lab

Hemp buds are dropped into a high-pressure chamber and the chamber is sealed.

Advanced Liquid Co2

Advanced Liquid Co2 is added (supercritical C02) to the chamber. High pressure is applied from the top of the device. Plunged, pushing Co2 liquid through the buds. Hemp buds sit with the CO2 for a couple of hours. The mush is pushed into the third chamber, a separator machine.

Final Chamber

Evaporation occurs in the third and final chamber removing the CO2 and leaving a lovely oil at the end. CO2 is the preferred method of extraction because there are no solvents used. No impurities are added and it’s fully automated. From there it goes straight into products pure and unmolested.

Distilled CBD

A step for further refinement and distillation. We go to a traditional laboratory. Lots of jars and tubes to condensers. Temperature plays the biggest role in this process. It’s a system of heating liquids and cooling liquids then catching vapers. Crude hemp oil is heated up in a boiling flask to around 230c. This flask sits inside a heated box, which stirs and heats the oil. The oil creates vapers, and the vapers are caught in a tall distillation glass.

The vaper travels to a cooling chamber. In this cooling chamber, the vapour turns back into a liquid. This liquid travels down the chamber to the second set of flasks. Three flasks, two collect terpenes, solvents, and undesirable bits. The final One collects the CBD Distillate, CBD Gold.

CBD Isolate

Further refinement in a centrifugal machine A CBD Ethanol extraction process is used. Ethanol is added to the hemp buds. The buds are added to a machine, and it spins and separates each element of the plant to produce Isolates. An ‘Isolate’ is an isolated part of the plant, so the product is almost a pure CBD and creates up to 99% purity

There are many ways to extract CBD, but most are good. The old school and traditional ways are our favourites.