CERTIFIED-CLEAN
Our growing philosophy is Certified-Clean. We aim for our plants to be grown, harvested and processed in clean, low-chemical environments to maximize the health benefits of our products. When our products fail to meet these standards you will encounter transparency at every step.
GROWING AND HARVESTING
We start our soil with biochar and composting worms, and true to sustainable, no-till farming practices, we never treat or turn over our soil to ensure that it maintains its natural micro-nutrients. We guarantee that our plants are only ever treated with certified-organic pest control solutions, and the flower itself is never treated. These steps ensure that we provide Oklahomans with the cleanest-possible products to aid in healing, wellness and peace-of-mind.
PROCESS
Mint uses state-of-the art cold ethanol extraction. There is a sizable contingent in the cannabis extraction industry that considers ethanol extraction to have the best properties of hydrocarbon (high efficiency) and CO2 (safety). In fact, the development of ethanol extraction machines shows the most promise in delivering a high-quality cannabis oil with safe and efficient equipment.
However, it is crucial to remember that ethanol is an “abrasive” solvent. What does this mean, exactly? Room-temperature ethanol will extract just about everything from the plant material: terpenes, cannabinoids, lipids, fats, and even chlorophyll. In fact, it will basically strip the cannabis material down to everything but the cellulose fibers. This is because of the chemical properties of this solvent, specifically the dual polarity of ethanol. In fact, old-school methods of ethanol extraction frequently ran into this problem: the solvent was pulling everything out of the plant material.
So how do you selectively extract the desirable elements (like terpenes and cannabinoids) while leaving the rest (chlorophyll, waxes, lipids) behind?
The answer lies in the temperature of the ethanol. Supercooled, or cryogenic ethanol, is highly effective at selectively pulling out only the desirable parts of the plant material. By using it at such a low temperature, the polarity of the ethanol is being effectively manipulated so that it effectively acts as a nonpolar solvent. This is why newer machines that use supercooled ethanol have the same high level of efficiency as hydrocarbon extraction machines. In fact, supercooled ethanol is so efficient as a solvent that the extraction machines are designed to combine the ethanol and plant material only briefly. In the context of the extraction machine, the process of pouring the ethanol over the plant material is known as the wash. With supercooled ethanol, the short wash times ensure that only the desirable elements are extracted.
Supercooled or cryogenic ethanol extraction machines operate under negative pressure. To boil it down in the simplest terms, the two types of pressure are:
Positive – Where forces are pushing (measured in psi).
Negative – Where forces are pulling (measured in inches of Mercury, or inHg).
By using negative pressure, the various parts of the ethanol extraction machine can use pressure differentials to effectively move solvent and plant material between the three primary components:
Solvent storage (supercooled or cryogenic ethanol)
Holding tank
Extraction vessel
In order to properly filter out plant material so that it does not gum up the works, most ethanol extraction machines will have a series of sock filters installed between the various primary components. These can range anywhere from ultra-fine to coarse, depending on the consistency of the plant material that is being exposed to the solvent.
Using negative pressure makes the entire system exceptionally safe and the use of motors unnecessary. Instead, the pressure differentials are driven by pneumatic actuators rather than mechanical pumps. These supercooled ethanol extraction machines do not need to common post-processing techniques, including:
Winterization. The plant material is only momentarily exposed to the cold ethanol before it passes quickly through and only pulls out the desirable elements (terpenes and cannabinoids).
Filtration. The cold ethanol does not pull out any chlorophyll or lipids.
So what does all this mean?
Well, the industry has seen a sea change in the types of machines used, with the most processing being ethanol extraction machines that use supercooled solvent. This is because the high solvency of supercooled ethanol makes it efficient like hydrocarbon extraction and the negative pressure of the machines makes it safe like CO2 extraction machines. Supercooled ethanol extraction machines effectively combine the best parts of hydrocarbon and CO2 extraction machines.
Source: capnasystems.com
TESTING
Our products are always tested using the Oklahoma full panel:
Terpenes + Pesticides + Heavy Metals + Mycotoxins + Residual Solvents + Microbiology + Microscopic Inspection
