Method and apparatus for dehydration and decarboxylation of cannabis
OwnerJose RIVASinventor
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Abstract
In a system for perorming a multi-step process for selectively purifying various pharmacologically-relevant components of a source plant such as cannabis, an initial step of the process provides a low-temperature, robust process for dehydrating and decarboxylating the starting product—fresh raw cannabis—by means of a vacuum-assisted microwave distillation process. An important by-product of the dehydration/decarboxylation is a terpene-rich distillate. By doing the terpene capture under vacuum, distillation temperature may be kept low. The low distillation temperature maximizes yields of thermally-sensitive components such as terpenes and cannabinoids.
Claims4
A method for drying and decarboxylating raw cannabis, comprising:
- providing a plurality of decarboxylation systems, each system comprising;
- a vessel having a gravity drain;
- placing raw cannabis in each of the vessels;
- applying microwave energy to the cannabis under at least a partial vacuum for a time period and at a power level sufficient to substantially dry and decarboxylate the cannabis;
- as each vessel is heated, continuously applying torque to the vessel to maintain rotation of the vessel;
- continuously draining accumulated liquid and vapor under vacuum from each distillation vessel into a condenser under at least partial vacuum;
- draining a resulting distillate from the condenser into an oil/water separator capable of maintaining the at least partial vacuum;
- and
- draining at least a portion of the content of the oil/water separator into a single collection vessel common to said plurality of distillation systems.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.