Equipment and method for continuously processing plant material

Abstract

Cannabinoids can be separated or extracted from plant material. Versions can include a process for separating trichomes from plant material, including mixing plant material with a fluid in a metered feed system and forming a slurry; pumping the slurry into a turbulent processor, agitating the slurry between rotating and static teeth and shearing trichomes from the plant material to form a mixture of fluid, trichomes and plant material; coarse filtering the mixture and removing portions of the plant material to form an interim mixture; and then second filtering the interim mixture and removing other plant material and some trichomes to form a resulting mixture comprising other trichomes and fluid.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A process for separating plant subcomponents from plant material, the process comprising:
 mixing the plant material with a fluid in a feed system and forming a slurry;   pumping the slurry into a turbulent processor comprising a shear blender, agitating the slurry and shearing the plant subcomponents from the plant material to form a mixture of the fluid, the plant subcomponents and the plant material;   coarse filtering the mixture and removing portions of the plant material using a coarse filter to form an interim mixture; and then   second filtering the interim mixture and removing other plant material from the interim mixture using a second filter to form a resultant mixture comprising the plant subcomponents and the fluid.   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the turbulent processor further comprises at least one of a liquid ring pump or a sinusoidal pump. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 2 , wherein the agitating the slurry and shearing the plant subcomponents from the plant material to form the mixture of the fluid, the plant subcomponents and the plant material is further defined as agitating the slurry between rotating and static teeth and shearing the plant subcomponents from the plant material to form the mixture of the fluid, the plant subcomponents and the plant material, the process further including processing the mixture through at least one additional shear blender coupled between the shear blender and the coarse filter prior to the coarse filtering. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 2 , wherein pumping the slurry includes first pumping the slurry using a first pump configured to be located upstream from the at least one of the liquid ring pump or the sinusoidal pump. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 2 , further including removing the plant subcomponents from the plant material in addition to moving the slurry using a turbulent internal mechanism of the liquid ring pump including a spinning off-center blade ring rotatable within a ring configured to pull the slurry and circulate the slurry as a high solids mixture including the plant subcomponents. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 2 , further including pulling the slurry into an inlet of the sinusoidal pump and through each of four evenly-sized chambers of a housing of the sinusoidal pump in sequence before discharging a high solids mixture from an outlet of the housing, the housing containing a sinusoidal rotor rotated on a shaft to define the four evenly-sized chambers. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the feed system is a metered feed system, the process further including grinding the slurry to reduce a size of the plant material prior to processing in the turbulent processor. 
     
     
         8 . The process of  claim 1 , further including filtering the interim mixture with at least one medium filter prior to pumping the resultant mixture through the second filter, the at least one medium filter having a filter size and position between the coarse filtering and the second filtering. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the rotating and static teeth define a prescribed clearance therebetween configured to allow the plant subcomponents to pass through without damage. 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 9 , wherein the plant subcomponents are trichomes and the prescribed clearance is in a range of approximately 0.1 millimeters to approximately 1 millimeter. 
     
     
         11 . A process for extracting botanicals from plant material, the process comprising:
 mixing the plant material with a solvent in a hopper and forming a slurry;   pumping the slurry into a turbulent processor, agitating the slurry and extracting botanicals from the plant material and forming a mixture of the solvent with the plant material and dissolved botanicals;   coarse filtering the mixture and removing some portions of the plant material using a coarse filter to form an interim mixture of the solvent, other plant material and the dissolved botanicals; and   second filtering the some portions of the plant material and removing the other plant material using a second filter to form a resulting solution comprising substantially only the solvent and the dissolved botanicals.   
     
     
         12 . The process of  claim 11 , further including processing the mixture prior to the coarse filtering using at least one shear blender or liquid ring pump. 
     
     
         13 . The process of  claim 11 , further including processing the mixture prior to the coarse filtering using at least one pump or additional shear blender configured to be coupled upstream from the coarse filter. 
     
     
         14 . The process of  claim 11 , wherein the botanicals are cannabinoids and the solvent comprises ethanol and at least one additive, the process further including processing the resulting solution to remove the dissolved botanicals from the solvent. 
     
     
         15 . The process of  claim 11 , further including receiving and agitating the slurry and shearing plant subcomponents from the plant material to form the mixture of the solvent, the plant material and the dissolved botanicals using a shear blender of the turbulent processor including rotating and static teeth defining a prescribed clearance therebetween configured to allow the plant subcomponents to pass through without damage. 
     
     
         16 . The process of  claim 11 , wherein the second filter comprises a separator and the interim mixture from the coarse filtering comprises a grade a tincture and the resulting solution comprising substantially only the solvent and the dissolved botanicals comprises a grade b tincture, and the process further includes processing the mixture prior to the coarse filtering using a first pump coupled upstream from the coarse filtering. 
     
     
         17 . A process for separating plant subcomponents from plant material, the process comprising:
 mixing the plant material with a fluid to form a slurry using a feed system;   removing the plant subcomponents from the plant material in addition to moving the slurry using a spinning off-center blade ring rotatable within a ring of a liquid ring pump disposed downstream from the feed system and configured to pull the slurry and circulate the slurry as a high solids mixture including the plant subcomponents;   agitating the slurry between rotating and static teeth of a turbulent processor comprising a shear blender and shearing the plant subcomponents from the plant material to form a mixture of the fluid, the plant subcomponents and the plant material;   coarse filtering the mixture and removing portions of the plant material using a coarse filter to form an interim mixture; and   second filtering the interim mixture and removing other plant material from the interim mixture using a second filter to form a resultant mixture comprising the plant subcomponents and the fluid.   
     
     
         18 . The process of  claim 17 , further including creating backpressure to slow the mixture of the fluid, the plant subcomponents and the plant material through the shear blender using a diaphragm valve disposed downstream of the shear blender. 
     
     
         19 . The process of  claim 17 , further including routing at least one of the interim mixture from the coarse filter and the resultant mixture from the second filter back to the feed system for continued processing and reuse using pipes from at least one of the coarse filter and the second filter to the feed system. 
     
     
         20 . The process of  claim 17 , wherein the plant subcomponents are trichomes and the process further includes maintaining a prescribed clearance between the rotating and static teeth of the shear blender configured to allow the trichomes to pass through without damage.