DrainDroyd Eliminates Bottlenecks in Hemp Oil Filtration
extraktLAB shared recent honors from the hemp extraction industry as their DrainDroyd filtration unit was featured in Marijuana Business Magazine’s “10 Killer Technologies” cover story. DrainDroyd ranked #3 in the feature article, which provides great insight into the impact that the innovation has had on the hemp industry.
In 2014, Dr. Jon Thompson left his work in traditional chemical separation science & engineering to enter the burgeoning medical marijuana industry. A young industry, hemp extraction was full of trial and error mistakes that prevented success for many businesses. Relying on traditional research and development know-how, Dr. Thompson isolated significant issues that needed a solution for immediate, improved ROI for business stability.
Among the issues was the lack of scale-up considerations, which threatened to keep extraction methodologies at the scale of laboratory production. Another major issue was the secondary extraction process.
Secondary extraction processes, such as “dewaxing” crude oil with traditional laboratory equipment like Buchner funnels, presented manufacturing bottlenecks that hindered businesses from seeing reliable revenue.
Hemp Oil Manufacturing
Enter Dr. Thompson’s DrainDroyd filtration unit. The filtration unit is a handy addition to the workflow of any hemp oil manufacturing operation. The unit is designed to not only filter solids like waxes from liquids, but is also used for removing large solids from small solids such as is required in isolate production or in solid phase extractions of any kind.  The unit is capable of vacuum-assisted separations and pneumatic-assisted separations.
Dr. Thompson’s innovative product offers, “a funnel that is wider and made from stainless steel. Because it’s wider and more durable than glass, the DrainDroyd, as Thompson dubbed his invention, can process 4-5 liters of oil in 30 minutes or less. Filtration with conventional equipment using Buchner funnels can take hours.”
“I’m grateful for this recognition from such a highly respected industry publication, especially for a product that’s accelerated a bottleneck for so many business owners. I’m proud that we’ve developed products, like the DrainDroyd, based on scientific principles of consistent results and high-quality output. Our customers can depend upon our products to achieve their business goals and quickly improve their ROI,” said Dr. Jon Thompson.
The DrainDroyd was launched in late 2017, with over 1,000 units sold since then. While the equipment is often used in the hemp industry, DrainDroyds are also popular in the food, beverage and chemical industries.
About extraktLAB
extraktLAB manufactures leading-edge, supercritical CO2Â extraction equipment in a 38,000 sq ft facility in Osceola, WI. Developed in 2014 by PhD separation chemists and engineers, extraktLAB equipment is renowned for having the fastest throughput, smallest footprint, lowest energy consumption and most scalable design in the industry. In fact, customers can easily scale up to process 10 tons per day. In addition to technology, extraktLAB provides engineering and consulting services to help both experienced and novice producers create manufacturing facilities that meet or exceed ISO and GLP/GMP equivalent standards.
REFERENCES:
Sacirbey, Omar. “10 Killer Technologies.” Marijuana Business Daily: February 2019. Website: https://mjbizmagazine.com/10-killer-technologies/
