What is Butane Extraction?
Oils, waxes, dabs -- concentrates are among the fastest growing product categories in the cannabis industry. This vast category includes many methodologies to create and refine these products, including Butane Hash Oil, also called BHO. This abbreviation refers to any cannabis extract that is developed using butane as the primary solvent in the extraction process. Manufacturers then remove the remaining solvent and further refine the extract to create the final product. Despite this process, some residual solvent may remain. Cannabis analytical labs double check that products are free of harmful residual solvents before they reach dispensary shelves.
In this blog, you will learn:
What butane is and how it is used in the cannabis industry
Why butane and other solvents are relevant to cannabis testing labs
New Jersey’s laws around residual solvents in cannabis extracts
What is butane extraction?
Butane extraction refers to the process of using butane as the primary solvent to extract compounds from the cannabis plant to create concentrated cannabis extracts. Butane, a colorless gas with a faint odor, is a non-polar solvent, meaning it only binds with fat soluble compounds. Cannabis concentrate products made through butane extraction are often considered more flavorful and potent than other solvent-based extractions like ethanol.
How butane extraction is conducted
When butane passes through a cannabis plant, it pulls with it various compounds, including phytocannabinoids, terpenes, lipids, waxes, and chlorophyll. To refine the resulting extracted mixture into the concentrated products found on dispensary shelves, manufacturers subject it to a process called winterization, which increases the overall purity of the final product by removing lipids, waxes, and chlorophyll.
Once winterized, extractors must remove the butane. This is an extremely important step considering butane can be hazardous when consumed in high amounts. Butane is a short hydrocarbon and therefore has a low boiling point of -1°C (31℉). As a result of its low boiling point, using butane can help extractors preserve more phytocannabinoids and terpenes, which degrade when exposed to heat.
What are some other extraction methods?
Butane extraction is just one type of extraction method available to cannabis manufacturers. Other popular extraction methods include the following:
Hydrocarbon extraction: Butane is a hydrocarbon, so butane extraction is technically one type of hydrocarbon extraction. However, the process could be performed with other hydrocarbons as well, like propane or a blend of propane and butane.
CO2 extraction: This method of extraction involves passing supercritical CO2 through ground cannabis flower to extract cannabinoids and terpenes. It also does not carry the risk of leaving behind residual solvents in the final extract.
Ethanol extraction: Ethanol is considered one of the safest solvents for use in food grade and pharmaceutical extraction. It also has a boiling point of approximately 78°C (173.1℉), which may degrade some phytocannabinoid and terpene content. Learn more about how butane and ethanol extraction methods compare to one another.
Solventless extraction: Solventless extraction is a mechanical process that relies on heat and pressure only to produce cannabis concentrates and extracts. One common example of a solventless concentrate is hash.
While there are some other extraction methods out there, these are the most commonly found in the legal cannabis industry. No matter which extraction medium is used, all legal cannabis products are subject to state cannabis testing laws, including residual solvent testing requirements.
How products made with butane extraction methods are tested for residual solvents
To determine whether unacceptable levels of butane remain in a cannabis extract, third party analytical laboratories employ a process known as Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). This process involves separating the various parts of an extract into individual components.
Using GC/MS, analysts heat the sample, turning its constituent parts into gases at their various boiling points. The gaseous particles are then carried in an inert gas and passed through a very thin layer of solid or viscous liquid particles. As they pass through this layer, a mass spectrometer analyzes the compounds, identifying and quantifying the levels of residual solvents present in the sample.
Residual solvent testing is required by law in New Jersey and several other states. Manufacturers are required to work with cannabis analytical labs to determine that products do not exceed limits on residual solvents before they are sold to consumers. In this way, manufacturers can ensure that consumer health is protected and their brand’s reputation remains trustworthy, which is especially critical in newly developing markets like New Jersey.
Partner with True Labs for Cannabis for residual solvent testing
Catching residual solvents in cannabis extracts is not just a matter of regulatory compliance, but one of public health. Higher than acceptable levels of butane left in an improperly refined cannabis extract diminish taste and quality while posing a potential health risk to patients when inhaled.
By partnering with a third party analytical laboratory like True Labs for Cannabis, you are working with a laboratory wholly dedicated to cannabis product testing from the ground up. Residual solvent testing is only one of the many services we offer. We also perform phytocannabinoid profiling and terpene profiling, microbial testing, heavy metal testing, R&D testing, and many more services to help ensure cannabis products are compliant with the state of New Jersey’s testing requirements, safe for consumers, and are meeting or exceeding the quality caliber producers are aiming for.
Our certified woman-owned laboratory, the first in New Jersey and one of only a handful in the United States, is located in East Hanover. Contact True Labs for Cannabis to learn more about how our analytical laboratory services can provide the accurate test results required before selling your products in New Jersey’s adult use or medical cannabis market.