Apparatus and method for extracting oil from plant material

A plant oil extraction apparatus comprising:

• a heat exchanger configured to cool an alcohol solvent to provide a cold solvent with a temperature of −40° C. or lower;
• a centrifuge configured to receive a batch of plant material containing plant oil and contact the plant material with the cold solvent while maintaining the cold solvent at a temperature of substantially −40° C. or lower and extract oil from the plant material to provide a solvent and oil mixture;
• a programmable logic controller configured in operation to monitor and control the temperature of the cold solvent produced by the heat exchanger, control the centrifuge to agitate the solvent in contact with the plant material for a period of time, and to rotate for a period of time to separate the mixture from the plant material;
• and
• a cold storage vessel configured to receive the cold solvent from the heat exchanger and to maintain the cold solvent therein at a temperature of −40° C. or lower.

A plant oil extraction apparatus comprising:

• a heat exchanger configured to cool an alcohol solvent to provide a cold solvent with a temperature of −40° C. or lower;
• a centrifuge configured to receive a batch of plant material containing plant oil and contact the plant material with the cold solvent while maintaining the cold solvent at a temperature of substantially −40° C. or lower and extract oil from the plant material to provide a solvent and oil mixture;
• a programmable logic controller configured in operation to monitor and control the temperature of the cold solvent produced by the heat exchanger, control the centrifuge to agitate the solvent in contact with the plant material for a period of time, and to rotate for a period of time to separate the mixture from the plant material;
• and
• a recirculation vessel having a plant oil and solvent mixture inlet communicating with an outlet of the centrifuge and an outlet for the oil and solvent mixture communicating with an inlet of the centrifuge, and the recirculation vessel configured to receive from the centrifuge an oil and solvent mixture removed from a first batch of plant material and to return this oil and solvent mixture to the centrifuge for removing oil from a new second batch of plant material.

A plant oil extraction apparatus comprising:

• a heat exchanger configured to cool an alcohol solvent to provide a cold solvent with a temperature of −40° C. or lower;
• a centrifuge configured to receive a batch of plant material containing plant oil and contact the plant material with the cold solvent while maintaining the cold solvent at a temperature of substantially −40° C. or lower and extract oil from the plant material to provide a solvent and oil mixture;
• a programmable logic controller configured in operation to monitor and control the temperature of the cold solvent produced by the heat exchanger, control the centrifuge to agitate the solvent in contact with the plant material for a period of time, and to rotate for a period of time to separate the mixture from the plant material;
• and
• an evaporator configured to heat the alcohol and plant oil mixture to a temperature sufficient to vaporize at least part of the alcohol to a gas and a condenser configured to condense at least part of the gas alcohol to a liquid alcohol.

A plant oil extraction apparatus comprising:

• a heat exchanger configured to cool an alcohol solvent to provide a cold solvent with a temperature of −40° C. or lower;
• a centrifuge configured to receive a batch of plant material containing plant oil and contact the plant material with the cold solvent while maintaining the cold solvent at a temperature of substantially −40° C. or lower and extract oil from the plant material to provide a solvent and oil mixture;
• a programmable logic controller configured in operation to monitor and control the temperature of the cold solvent produced by the heat exchanger, control the centrifuge to agitate the solvent in contact with the plant material for a period of time, and to rotate for a period of time to separate the mixture from the plant material;
• and
• a reactor configured to receive plant oil from which at least some alcohol has been separated and to heat such plant oil to a temperature sufficient to decarboxylate it.

A plant oil extraction process comprising:

• cooling a solvent to provide a cold solvent at a temperature of −40° C. or lower;
• contacting plant material containing plant oil with the cold solvent to extract plant oil to provide a solvent and plant oil mixture;
• heating the mixture to convert the solvent to a gaseous state to thereby separate the solvent from the plant oil;
• cooling the separated gaseous solvent to a liquid to recover the solvent;
• and
• contacting the solvent and plant oil mixture at a temperature of −40° C. or lower with another batch of plant material to increase the quantity of plant oil in the mixture before the step of heating the mixture to convert the solvent to a gaseous state.

A plant oil extraction centrifuge comprising:

• a container with a circumferentially continuous side wall, an opening adjacent one end of the container and an end wall generally axially spaced from the one end of the container;
• a cooling jacket at least in part surrounding at least part of the container side wall;
• a basket with a circumferentially continuous and perforate side wall disposed inside the container and configured for rotation relative to the container;
• a cover carried by the container and configured to be movable between a first closed position closing the opening of the container and a second open position opening the opening of the container;
• at least one clamp movable to a first position to clamp the cover to the container when the cover is in its first position and to a second position to unclamp the cover so that it can be moved to its second position;
• and
• an actuator mechanism configured to move the clamp to its first and second positions.