[Press release] Albuquerque, NM – September 6, 2016 Working with a medical marijuana consultancy and grower, Reynold Greenleaf & Associates, StarStrike Stainless has developed a rugged, industrial-scale ethanol extractor. Designed for leaf and other less desirable parts of the plant, the unit is called the Red Rabbit Extractor. It uses ethanol, heat, and gentle agitation to unlock plant oil from up to 12 pounds of trim per load. Liquid ethanol extraction is a straightforward process that doesn’t require the use of pressurized odorless gasses thereby minimizing safety risks as compared to butane and CO2 extraction systems. Additionally, food-grade ethanol leaves no residual trace chemicals behind once it has been fully evaporated. Best of all, ethanol is a powerful disinfectant that kills mold, mildew, and bacteria.
Chief Science Officer J.C. Romero, from Reynold Greenleaf and Associates has been making super-saturated cannabis oils for over 4 years, “The Red Rabbit Extractor is a game changer for the cannabis industry, producing excellent, potent, clean ethanol tincture and finished whole plant oil in sufficient quantities to satisfy market demands.”
The extractor produces as much as 14 gallons of super-saturated ethanol tincture per load. Super-saturation is accomplished using a two-step wash methodology over several hours. When finished, the tincture is filtered and transferred into the Ethanol Recovery Unit (ERU) or it can be used directly after filtering, for spray, vape, and tincture products.
The extraction process typically yields 80 to 100 grams of whole plant oil per pound of trim depending on the freshness, plant material, and plant type used. Testing has shown total cannabinoid content can run as high as 65% in the final output oil.
Once removed, the recovered ethanol can be re-used for subsequent extractions, minimizing operating costs. The remaining ethanol and plant oil mixture is further processed in the lab to completely remove the ethanol and fully decarboxylate the cannabinoids. The resulting cannabis oil can be used in edibles, balms and ointments, or as an additive to other plant-based products. The plant oil can also be fractionally distilled into ultra-pure, high quality component oils that have a very high value per gram. Economically the Red Rabbit Extractor makes a lot of sense; the initial cost of the unit is less than a quarter of comparable CO2 systems and beats BHO systems of similar size. At $20 per gram wholesale ($60 / gram retail) for whole plant oil, the extractor can pay for itself in a few weeks. Because of its industrial stainless steel construction it is both rugged and reliable; Reynold Greenleaf and Associates has significantly reduced their backlog of trim and is able to fully meet demand for their bakery and associated downstream dispensaries.
The Red Rabbit Extractor comes on two industrial carts, a “hot cart” shown in the picture above, and a “cold cart”. The hot cart contains the extractor and ethanol recovery vessels as well as the glycol heater, filters, pumps, and controls. The cold cart carries the glycol chiller, secondary condenser and other support items. Together, the hot and cold carts form a complete turn-key extraction system that only requires food grade ethanol, cannabis trim, and electricity to quickly produce high quality cannabis oil.
For more information about the Red Rabbit Extractor visit www.StarStrikeStainless.com or call 800-530-4197. StarStrike Stainless, LLC is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico with offices in Deming, NM and Longmont, Colorado. Reynold Greenleaf & Associates is located in Albuquerque, NM and their web site is www.reynoldgreenleaf.com or call 505-433-3373.
.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=crop&h=141&q=70&w=250)
