Choose The Right Homogenizer When Emulsifying Distillate and Terpenes
Raw CBD distillate is extremely viscous and is challenging to work with at ambient temperatures, typically rock hard. Distillates must be heated to about 65° C (149° F) or more to facilitate transference to vape cartridges or other media. Even then, this substance is highly viscous.
During the distillation process the terpenes are vaporized off and are no longer present, leaving the highly purified CBD distillate odorless and tasteless. One common solution is to add back in cannabis-derived or food grade terpenes to mirror what was lost during the distillation process. This enhances the fluidity of the distillate, making it easier to work with at lower temperatures. A simple hotplate can be used for this, but a hotplate stirrer is the better option. These devices allow you to bring your distillate to a specific temperature, while continuously stirring and mixing the constituents.
A Lab-Grade Homogenizer: The Key to Success
A hotplate stirrer is not sufficient to evenly disperse the terpenes throughout a batch of distillate being processed. For that you will need a more sophisticated tool called a homogenizer.
Achieving true homogenization is crucial for your success. And what is true homogenization? True homogenization is where two substances; distillate and terpenes have inconsistently sized particles and when a high shear homogenizer is employed it reduces the particle sizes so they are uniform, thereby giving you a uniform disbursement of terpenes throughout the distillate.
Absent a high shear homogenizer, the finial distillate product will have uneven concentrations of terpenes in the distillate, some customers (vape cartridges) will experience a harsh taste of terpenes while others will have just a faint taste.
These disappointing inconsistencies will almost certainly be linked to a failure to use appropriate, laboratory-grade homogenization equipment. Make no mistake: Use of a homogenizer is crucial to success. There’s no other way to achieve uniform mixing of all components, and appropriate particle size reductions.
We Have the Solution for This Sticky Problem
At CAT Scientific, we have the professional-grade laboratory equipment you’ll need to successfully tackle this potentially sticky problem. At the very least, we recommend that you invest in two basic, but crucial, pieces of sophisticated laboratory equipment: a magnetic hotplate stirrer, and a high-quality homogenizer. The latter is superficially similar to a handheld kitchen blender — on steroids. But, of course, it’s so much more than that.
Our homogenizer drives — such as the Unidrive X1000D —consist of motor units capable of being fitted with a variety of generator units. These are dispersing tools; rotor-stator shafts of varying diameters, which can spin at speeds up to 33,000 rpm. Their precision German-engineered design ensures that 100% of your product will be thoroughly blended to achieve thorough homogenization.
With the CAT Scientific X1000 and X1000D Homogenizer drives fitted with the G20 Generator shaft it is possible to process up to 2 liters of water-based media. Higher viscosity media, like distillates, require smaller volumes to be processed because of the tremendous load put on the X1000 motor. This will also depend on the percentage of terpenes to be added in the distillate per batch.
Fortunately, at CAT Scientific, we specialize in precisely the kind of equipment you’ll need to process CBD and other challenging cannabis products. The other item mentioned earlier is a digital magnetic hotplate stirrer. This tool is also crucial for ultimate success. These robust items of laboratory equipment allow for consistent, accurate heating, and simultaneous stirring of even the most challenging substances, for as long or as short an interval as you may require to achieve success. For more information, contact our sales staff at this link, or give us a call: 1-805-709-1056.