Method and apparatus for dehydration and decarboxylation of cannabis

Abstract

In a system for perorming a multi-step process for selectively purifying various pharmacologically-relevant components of a source plant such as cannabis, an initial step of the process provides a low-temperature, robust process for dehydrating and decarboxylating the starting product—fresh raw cannabis—by means of a vacuum-assisted microwave distillation process. An important by-product of the dehydration/decarboxylation is a terpene-rich distillate. By doing the terpene capture under vacuum, distillation temperature may be kept low. The low distillation temperature maximizes yields of thermally-sensitive components such as terpenes and cannabinoids.

1 . A method for drying and decarboxylating raw  cannabis , comprising:
 providing a plurality of decarboxylation systems, each system comprising;
 a vessel having a gravity drain; 
 placing raw  cannabis  in each of the vessels; 
 applying microwave energy to the  cannabis  under at least a partial vacuum for a time period and at a power level sufficient to substantially dry and decarboxylate the  cannabis;    
 as each vessel is heated, continuously applying torque to the vessel to maintain rotation of the vessel; 
 continuously draining accumulated liquid and vapor under vacuum from each distillation vessel into a condenser under at least partial vacuum; 
 draining a resulting distillate from the condenser into an oil/water separator capable of maintaining the at least partial vacuum; and 
   draining at least a portion of the content of the oil/water separator into a single collection vessel common to said plurality of distillation systems.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein raw  cannabis  comprises fresh plant material that has not had an opportunity to dry. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one of:
 shredding and/or chopping the raw  cannabis;      soaking the raw  cannabis  in water;   freezing the raw  cannabis;      packing the raw  cannabis  into the distillation vessel.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein applying microwave energy to the  cannabis  comprises one or both of:
 heating the  cannabis  in the microwave oven for a period of 60 minutes;   heating the  cannabis  in a 1000-watt microwave oven at ‘high’ power.