For many business leaders, the CBD industry represents an exciting investment opportunity. Indeed, one major player opened 70 new CBD store locations in 2019 alone. And experts predict that the industry as a whole will continue to grow over the next few years. However, it’s important that businesses involved in CBD processing and the manufacturing of products like lotions, edibles, and extracts understand how to ensure efficient and uniform production standards. This is crucial for business reputation, customer satisfaction, and ROI. Here, we’ll explain why high-pressure homogenizers are essential to this process, and how CBD-based companies can benefit from using them:
Cannabinoids
Cannabinoids are the chemical compounds found within the cannabis plant. Crucially, they represent the active ingredient in CBD products. In order to create a CBD product, manufacturers harvest cannabis flowers, reduce them to first unrefined and then refined oils, and then process the oil into a single compound known as cannabinoid isolate.
The problem at the next, and final, stage of the process is that cannabinoids are hydrophobic –– meaning that they don’t mix with water. So it can be very difficult to evenly and efficiently incorporate cannabinoids into a finished CBD product.
As such, CBD manufacturers must use emulsifiers to create oil-in-water emulsions involving cannabinoids. From there, they are able to form micro-emulsions, nano-emulsions, or liposomes, which are effectively combinations of hydrophobic and hydrophilic materials. Ultimately, this enables effective mixing of CBD and non-CBD compounds within a given product.
How Homogenizers Work
Generally speaking, the quality of an emulsion depends on the quality the mixing method employed. This is where high-pressure homogenizers stand above other mixing options. Most mixing equipment uses all of the three following methods to form stable emulsions:
- Impact –– high forces applied over a short period of time.
- Slice/Tear –– motion between adjacent layers of liquid.
- Cavitation –– rapid pressure changes.
High-pressure homogenizers are unique in that they employ all three methods at the same time. This ensures effective particle-size reduction –– a crucial aspect to quality control and production in any mixture. The smaller the particles are, the more even the mixture is and the higher its bioavailability becomes.
Benefits to Using Homogenizers for CBD Processing
Because homogenizers so effectively emulsify and mix CBD substances, businesses are able to guarantee quality control every time they produce a new batch of products. The homogenization process eliminates “hot spots” –– or collections of CBD compounds within a mixture –– thus creating evenly distributed mixtures every time.
What’s more, high bioavailability maximizes the potency of CBD products. So businesses are able to deliver high-quality products while using lower amounts of active ingredients. Bolstered bioavailability also contributes to faster-acting CBD products, and more stable CBD products that have a longer shelf-life. All told, high-pressure homogenizers can increase bioavailability by up to 75%.
In summation, using homogenizers to complete CBD processing boosts ROI, reduces costly inefficiencies, creates high-quality, potent, long-lasting products, and –– in all likelihood –– will improve customer satisfaction as well.
Contact Us
BEE International has been a leading provider of high-pressure homogenization solutions for decades. Not only is our equipment cutting-edge and versatile, but we’ve also added cannabis-specific innovations to our process based on customer feedback. For more information, you can check out our eBook on cannabis products. Or, to get started with us today, contact us here.
