Maximum Yield Cannabis Canada September/October 2019 | Page 92

HARD SCIENCE,
SIMPLIFIED.
MEDXtract r
5614A Burbank Rd. SE, Calgary, Alberta
4 years in business | 1.403.689.3901
medxtractor.com
MedXtractor manufactures small-scale CO 2 -
based cannabis oil extractors for sale to craft
growers worldwide (there are installations
on three continents). Their Disruptor-
series extractors are the only CO 2 -based
extractors that don't rely on mechanical
pumps and this patent-pending
process brings the price down
to a level that craft growers can
afford. Craft growers can maximize
their crop value by producing
high-potency, high-purity oils
without the risks associated with
hydrocarbon-based extraction.
MedXtractor president James
Durward fills us in on the company.
92
Maximum Yield
MedXtractor: History of
the underlying technology
I conceived the technology after a trip to Vancouver in early
2015 where I shot a cannabis-testing video for a friend. After
seeing what was happening in the cannabis dispensaries, it
seemed clear to me that the future of cannabis ingestion was
in concentrates. Concentrates were becoming very popular
primarily because of the potency and convenience. According
to some dispensary personnel, a new type of product, the
cannabis vape pen, was experiencing high, growing demand.
None of the dispensary people knew where the substance in
the vape pen came from or how it was made — just that people
wanted it and they had a hard time keeping it in stock. So I
started to research this oil and how it was made. The “bleeding-
edge” manufacturing method involved high-density, pressurized
CO 2 that is used as a solvent to strip active cannabinoids
from the cannabis plant. When the cannabinoid-saturated
CO 2 is released into an additional volume, the pressure and
density both drop and dissolved cannabinoids precipitate for
collection. The CO 2 is then cooled to the point where it changes
from a gas to a liquid and then a mechanical pump is used
to recirculate the liquid CO 2 to repeat the process. This is
referred to as a closed loop system and operates on the same
principle as a home refrigerator. The available systems used
large mechanical pumps and heat exchangers and were very
expensive, often more than $100,000. The resultant oil is pure
and potent, and the consistency is such that it can easily
be used as vape pen oil and/or for feedstock for a variety of
cannabis products (edibles, sprays, tinctures, etc.).
Carbon dioxide had developed a reputation for producing very
high-purity oils and this was a desirable feature, particularly
for medical users whose other option was hydrocarbon-based
concentrates that are commonly extracted using highly-
explosive butane/propane and which extracts can contain
residual hydrocarbon — not a good thing. In my research,