–by Scott Sondles
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Butane cannabis extracts are loved in many circles and are vilified in others.
On the one hand butane was the go-to extraction method of black market entrepreneurs and provided more potent medicine to patients. On the other, this extraction technique can turn into a ball of flames if you don’t know what you are doing and solvent residues are toxic to patients and consumers.
CO2 extraction technology provides a whole plant extract that has a higher terpene concentration, zero solvents and is the way natural medicines should be created. If your goal is to create an organic brand with an environmental mission you need to make the jump into CO2 extraction technology.
Butane extractions can blow you up if you’re not careful and many former butane artists are making the change to science backed CO2 extraction for their safety, and also to improve product quality. Carbon dioxide extracts are superior to butane (hydrocarbon) extracts on many levels. Whether you are a cannabis processor or manufacturer you should take notice of the shift in consumer demand. People who are buying green and organic aren’t buying butane extracts.
The biggest challenge that cannabis and marijuana brands face over the next five years is promoting the safety of our industry. There is no safer, low cost, and easy way to create medicinal extracts than CO2. Cannabis laboratories blowing up due to the unsafe use of butane extractions is not the image that the cannabis industry needs.
Do It For The Terpenes (taste, smell and medicinal properties)
The process of purging or boiling off synthetic solvents like butane also reduces your terpene profile. A general rule is that CO2 supercritical extracts have higher terpene content than BHO extracts. In many cases terpene content in CO2 extracts can be twice as high!
Other Benefits of CO2 Over Butane Include:
- Butane extracts an excessive amount of chlorophyll.
- If Butane isn’t carefully watched you can damage your entire batch. (The CO2 extraction process is tune-able and 100% automated.)
- There’s no need to modify your current building. CO2 doesn’t put you at risk of blowing up, and blast proof rooms and vented hoods are not needed with the CO2 extraction process.
- You’ll pay lower insurance premiums with CO2
- You don’t have to worry a felony conviction if you have a workplace accident.
Inexperienced young people are often the causalities of butane gone bad and in the states that are not open to cannabis cultivation it is often made in makeshift “breaking bad laboratories”. This is not the way medicine or recreational products should be made. At Apeks Supercritical our focus is on your safety, the safety of our extracts, and democratizing the use of CO2 cannabis extracts.
If you are currently producing butane extracts and are interested in diversifying your revenue stream to meet the CO2 demand please reach out to us at: sales@ApeksSupercritical.com. If you are a dispensary owner and would like to be put into contact with a CO2 extract supplier, we can also help you out.