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US 2024/0188601 A1Published application
Method and system for processing fragile materials
OwnerSameer H. Israni, Brian T. Zurek +1inventors
InventorsSameer H. Israni, Brian T. Zurek, Michael V. Johnson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed are methods of freezing material that is susceptible to breakage at undesirable places or times, wherein the freezing is performed with reduced risk of such breakage occurring, and methods for recovery of valuable component from such material by freezing, size reduction, and sieving at sub-ambient pressure.
Claims23
A method of isolating trichomes from a plant material comprising trichomes, said method comprising
- (A) placing said plant material into a freezer,
- (B) injecting a cryogen into said freezer to establish a cold gaseous atmosphere in the freezer to freeze the plant material, wherein any cryogenic liquid or cryogenic solid in said cryogen or derived from said cryogen does not contact said plant material, and
- (C) freezing the plant material, wherein
- (1) said cold gaseous atmosphere contacts the plant material in the freezer at a velocity not greater than 4.5 meters per second, and wherein
- (2) said frozen plant material retains ≥60 wt % of the trichome content of the plant material of Step A, and
- (D) isolating the trichomes from said frozen plant material.
3 more elements
A method of recovering trichomes from a plant material that comprises trichomes, said method comprising:
- (A) placing said plant material into a freezer,
- (B) injecting a cryogen into the freezer to establish a cold gaseous atmosphere in the freezer to freeze said plant material, wherein any cryogenic liquid or cryogenic solid in said cryogen or derived from said cryogen does not contact said material, and
- (C) freezing the plant material in the freezer to form a frozen plant material, wherein
- (1) the cold gaseous atmosphere in the freezer contacts the plant material at a velocity of not greater than 4.5 meters per second, and
- (2) removing the frozen plant material from the freezer,
- (D) reducing the size of the frozen plant material at a temperature of about ≤−7° C. to form frozen plant pieces,
- (E) subjecting the frozen plant pieces to facilitated agitation to pass through one or more screens at a temperature of about ≤−7° C. to form a frozen plant biomass comprising at least a trichome rich fraction and a trichome lean fraction;
- and
- (F) separating the trichome rich fraction from said trichome lean fraction at a temperature of about ≤−7° C.
6 more elements
A method of freezing, comprising
- (A) providing into a freezer solid material that comprises a first component and a second component which are integral with each other, wherein the second component is detachable from the first component when the material is subjected to force that is sufficiently high to cause the second component to become detached from said first component,
- (B) injecting a cryogenic product selected from a group consisting of cryogenic liquid, cryogenic gas, and mixtures thereof, into the freezer to establish a cold gaseous atmosphere in the freezer that is cold enough to freeze the material, and
- (C) freezing the material in the freezer, by
- (1) providing the solid material into the freezer, and then removing the solid material from the freezer, without subjecting the material to force that causes said second component of the material to become detached from said first component, and
- (2) contacting the material in the freezer with the cold gaseous atmosphere in the freezer wherein the cold gaseous atmosphere contacts the material in the freezer at a velocity not greater than 4.5 meters per second, without contacting the material with cryogenic liquid or cryogenic solid, and
- (3) removing the cryogenic product from the freezer without contacting the solid material with cryogenic liquid or cryogenic solid, and without contacting the solid material with gaseous cryogenic product at a velocity above 4.5 meters per second.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.