Methods for the comminution of botanical feedstock

Abstract

A method for treating cannabis comprises treating a feedstock of cannabis and obtaining treated feedstock comprising comminuted cannabis ; pneumatically conveying the treated feedstock to a cyclonic separator; and, subjecting the treated feedstock to a first cyclonic separation stage and obtaining a first stream of treated feedstock separated out of a fluid stream by the first cyclonic separation stage and a first fluid stream having a reduced level of treated feedstock.

1 . A method for treating  cannabis  comprising:
 (a) treating a feedstock of  cannabis  and obtaining treated feedstock comprising comminuted  cannabis;      (b) pneumatically conveying the treated feedstock to a cyclonic separator; and,   (c) subjecting the treated feedstock to a first cyclonic separation stage and obtaining a first stream of treated feedstock separated out of a fluid stream by the first cyclonic separation stage and a first fluid stream having a reduced level of treated feedstock.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein step (a) comprises comminuting at least a portion of the feedstock of  cannabis.    
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising subjecting at least a portion of the first stream of treated feedstock to extraction and obtaining a  cannabis  extract. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising collecting the first stream of treated feedstock exiting the cyclonic separator and subsequently subjecting at least a portion of the collected first stream of treated feedstock to extraction and obtaining a  cannabis  extract. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein step (c) further comprises subjecting the treated feedstock to at least one subsequent cyclonic separation stage in series with the first cyclonic separation stage, wherein each subsequent cyclonic separation stage separates treated  cannabis  having a smaller particle size than the immediately previous cyclonic separation stage. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising subjecting the first fluid stream having a reduced level of treated feedstock to a second cyclonic separation stage and obtaining a second fluid stream having a further reduced level of treated feedstock and treated feedstock separated out of a fluid stream by the second cyclonic separation stage wherein the treated feedstock separated out of a fluid stream by the second cyclonic separation stage has a smaller average particle size than an average particle size of the treated feedstock separated out of a fluid stream by the first cyclonic separation stage. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising subjecting the first fluid stream having a reduced level of treated feedstock to a physical filtration stage. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein step (a) comprises comminuting at least a portion of the feedstock of  cannabis , and the method further comprises collecting the first stream of treated feedstock exiting the cyclonic separator and subsequently subjecting at least a portion of the collected first stream of treated feedstock to extraction and obtaining a  cannabis  extract. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising subjecting the first fluid stream having a reduced level of treated feedstock to a physical filtration stage.