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The Art of CBD Extraction and How it Works!

Dale blog imageAuthor: Dale Hewett
The Art of CBD Extraction and How it Works!
Table of Contents (Scrollable)

The primary purpose of several CBD extraction methods is pretty simple: to end up with the cannabinoids (like CBD) and other products or derivatives from a plant matter, and put it into a form that is concentrated for better human consumption.

To make this happen, you must make use of a plant material that contains enough phytocannabinoids (ie: CBD) such as hemp or other special cannabis strains.

TLDR: There are many different forms of CBD extraction. Currently, the supercritical CO 2 CBD method of extraction is the most popular because it leaves the least amount of residue behind, while producing the most amount of extract.

Before we look at how you extract CBD from cannabis, let’s examine what CBD is all about.

What is CBD?

CBD is short for the term “cannabidiol”. It is a cannabinoid derived from the leaves, flowers, or stems of the cannabis plant, which include both hemp and marijuana.

Cannabis Species Chart

CBD, unlike the THC, is non-psychoactive. Marijuana can have quite a bit of THC content, whereas hemp will not. The oily makeup of hemp extract is useful in a final product line, such as CBD oil, creams, CBD gummy bears, chocolate, and soaps.

However, in order to make these products, we first have to be able to extract all of the usable oils from parts of the plant, like hemp flower. This is known as an extraction process, or extraction method.

Related: What is CBD?

CBD extract is considered to be a revolutionary product that is developed with the use of a different ingredient, known as hemp oil or hemp extract. This extract is an herbal oil that we derive from mature hemp plant matter.

Since New Phase Blends doesn’t manufacture, or sell, products with over 0.3% THC in them, we will cover the hemp extraction method only. Keep in mind that a marijuana extraction method is the same process, you just end up with more THC in your extract.

CBD extract is available on the market in various forms (called spectrums) like CBD isolate, full spectrum distillate, or broad spectrum distillate. The extract contains less than 0.3% THC, as long as it comes from the hemp plant.

Studies show that CBD can be beneficial for people suffering from high blood pressure, social anxiety, acute pain, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, and heart disease.

Different Hemp Spectrums

Now that you know exactly what a CBD extraction method is, we need to take it a step further.

When you extract the cannabinoids out of the hemp plant, you can do so in a manner that leaves you with either broad spectrum CBD, or full spectrum CBD.

Related article: Broad Spectrum vs Full Spectrum CBD Oil

Broad spectrum refers to all of the beneficial compounds within the cannabis plant, except the THC content will be near 0.0%.

Full spectrum CBD oil refers to all of the beneficial compounds within the raw plant material, but the THC content can near 0.3%.

Regardless of what spectrum people like to consume, one is not necessarily better than the other. Some people claim they can feel more benefits from having a minute amount of THC in their CBD products. Other people just want nothing to do with THC, so they opt for a broad spectrum.

With the extraction process equipment on the market today, you can also create isolates. For example, CBD isolate is normally a white powder that is purely CBD – nothing else. The same can be done for other cannabinoids like CBG or CBN, for example.

Review of the CBD Extraction Process

There are many different methods of that allow you to extract CBD.

Some methods involve higher level of solvents to be able to “pull” the oils out of the plant. New Phase Blends chooses to use what’s called a supercritical CO2 extraction method.

This method uses no solvents, and is widely regarded as the most safe method to extract CBD. Some of the other methods of extraction include: ethanol extraction and water extraction.

Cbd Extraction Machine

The primary purpose of all methods, regardless of their approach, is to pull out as much as the beneficial oils from the cannabis plant as possible. The CBD products you see today contain these oils.

As a side note, CBD extraction will require a certain ratio of CBD to THC, because the Farm Bill of 2018 only allows CBD products to contain less than 0.3% of THC by dry weight.

Marijuana extraction, on the other hand, can contain as much THC as possible in the final product. However, marijuana products are heavily controlled while hemp-based CBD products are not.

THC in excess of 0.3% by dry weight is not legal in most states within the US and other parts of the world.

How Does CBD Extraction Work?

Let’s briefly go over the different methods of extraction mentioned above. When you attempt to extract CBD, it can be pretty scientific, so I’ll try to break this down as easily as possible without getting too deep into the weeds.

At the start of all CBD extraction, the chemists will start with what’s called biomass. Hemp biomass is simply all of the harvested parts of the hemp plant material that have been bundled up and sold. Check out this picture of dried hemp biomass:

Cbd Extraction Hemp Biomass

Farmers spend a lengthy amount of time growing hemp into the best quality hemp plant they possibly can grow. The better their grow, the more biomass they will have when it comes time for harvesting.

Literally everything these farms do all comes down to one factor: producing as much quality biomass as possible, while remaining under the federally mandated THC content level of 0.3% or less. This is actually quite a difficult job.

The next step is to take this biomass and begin the actually process of pulling out the cannabinoids, like CBD, and making them into CBD oil…

Supercritical CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) CBD Extraction Process:

This type of extraction places biomass in a vessel of sorts, and then pumps in CO2 gas at a high temperature and pressure – hence the name CO2 extraction. There is an internal pump device that forces the parts of the plant material to essentially dissolve. It’s a commonly used method, too.

A secondary chamber houses this mixture. CO2 temperatures are then increased, along with the pressure.

When you change the pressure and temperature, you allow certain molecules to bind to the CO2, resulting in a separation of the plant material. The left over extract is transferred into a jar. This CO2 extraction method will yield your CBD extract.

This product is used to make the CBD end products that people consume, like CBD oil.

Cbd Extraction Machines

The machine pictured above is another example of a huge, supercritical CO2 extraction machine. These pieces of equipment are incredibly expensive.

Some of them are upwards of 1,000,000.00. The price of the extraction equipment is the primary reason for CBD products being so expensive. As time goes on, technology will advance and prices will lower.

Who knew there would be so much science into pulling oil out of a plant material?

Ethanol CBD Extraction Methods:

The Ethanol extraction method uses, you guessed it, Ethanol as a solvent to help extract CBD oil. This method leaves a residual amount of ethanol behind.

Some people claim the amount of ethanol left is completely harmless, while others argue otherwise. It makes sense that people would be sensitive to having ethanol in their CBD oil, right?

You be the judge on this one. New Phase Blends doesn’t use this method, as we want no residual solvents in our product line. The last thing you want when you extract CBD, is harmful chemicals or solvents.

The biomass is literally soaked in ethanol (gross) during this process. When this happens, it causes a breakdown of the material. After a certain period of time, the soaked biomass starts the separate from the cannabinoids like CBD. This process requires much more work, and is most likely the oldest method of extraction around.

It also requires many different filtration techniques to truly separate the extract from all other left-over materials.

Ethanol Cbd Extraction

The picture above shows an example of a smaller, less expensive, ethanol CBD extractor machine. As you can see, it looks a lot less complicated.

Water Extraction:

Extracting CBD doesn’t need to be hard. Some manufacturers use water vapor or ice to extract the cannabinoids and terpenes. It is very time consuming, but can still deliver some decent yields of extract. Like everything else, you must do it properly.

There’s basically three steps to water extraction…

  1. Biomass that has been cut up into very minute pieces is mixed with dry ice or plain ice.
  2. The chemists then pour water all over this mixture. A fine mesh container, or bag, houses the mixture to allow the chemists to pour water through it. The chemists do this multiple times.
  3. All of the CBD extract will settle at the bottom while the mesh bag contains the leftover biomass material. Thant’s it. It sounds easy, but it is time consuming.

Using water extraction sounds like the most natural way to perform CBD oil extraction, but it really isn’t. Supercritical CO2 extraction is just as natural, the name just makes it sound…weird. Either method would produce excellent CBD oil.

Summary – Extracting CBD from Hemp

And there you have it. These are three of the most popular extraction methods to make CBD oil out of hemp plant material. I will list them again for those of you who like to skip to the conclusion:

  • Supercritical CO2 (carbon dioxide) – best CBD extraction method
  • Water extraction – good method, but slow and hard to scale
  • Ethanol extraction – oldest method, but leaves solvent residue behind

This extracted oil from the raw plant material is then made into commonly used items such as CBD gummies, or topical CBD.

Now you have a better picture of all it takes to provide you with our CBD oil or creams. Some people complain about the price of CBD oil.

Perhaps you can see, first hand, why CBD oil costs so much now. Some extraction equipment can cost over $1,000,000.00 USD!! New Phase Blends has some of the best prices on CBD, but we still acknowledge that everyone can afford it.

I sincerely hope the cost of extraction continues to drop over time. We will continue to provide the most competitive prices that we can.

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When it comes to understanding both the science and benefits of cannabidiol (CBD), it is extremely important that you can trust the source of your information. This is exactly why our team at New Phase Blends includes experts in the field of cannabinoid research and development, including frequent correspondence with certified medical professionals and PhDs in relevant fields via studies, research, and additional peer reviewed pieces of information. All information published is reviewed and checked for accuracy. We pride ourselves on staying up-to-date with the latest scientific research and clinical studies related to not only CBD, but also its effects on the human body.

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Some articles you read may contain content created by the use of AI tools. This content is always edited by a human. We fact check any AI content, and ensure the information produced is accurate, up to date, and relevant to the article it may be contained in. All content is verified against peer reviewed data on CBD written by PhD’s and respective experts in their field of medical science.

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About the Author - CBD Expert Dale Hewett

Dale Hewett Author
Dale Hewett

Dale Hewett is the owner and founder of New Phase Blends. He discovered his passion for CBD use after suffering from injuries sustained while on Active Duty in the US Army. His number one priority is introducing the same CBD products that he himself uses for relief to others who can benefit from them.

Dale holds a Master Degree of Science, and is the inventor of the popular, CBD-based sleep aid known as ‘Sleep.’ He’s given multiple lectures on CBD to institutions such as Cornell’s MBA student program, and Wharton’s School of Business.

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