Chromatography plays an essential role within the cannabis space. In various applications, it is hard to extract the oil from the cannabis plant. And the fundamental cannabinoids and other compounds that make up these oils are required to be further separated from each other. In testing, this is true where you want to look at the presence of each compound present individually. Moreover, it is also relevant for product manufacturers looking to create Cannabidiol oil or Tetrahydrocannabinol isolates from broad-spectrum cannabis oils. Through this blog, you will read about Supercritical Chromatography along with its pros and cons.
How it works
The method of Supercritical fluid chromatography at presently adopted by the cannabis community. In the setup, there is a hybrid between supercritical CO2 extraction and HPLC chromatography. A chromatography column filled with a solid silica based stationary phase is used to pass the cannabis extract in SFC and it separates into its constituent parts that are analyzed and collected. But not like High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, the mobile phase that transfers the extract through the apparatus is not liquid solvent.
The pros and cons of SFC
Operationally, supercritical fluid chromatography is similar to High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, but the SFC method comes with some very unique benefits. Supercritical CO2 has some unique properties that make it a very powerful solvent, as those familiar with CO2 extraction will already be aware. These fluids have the density of a liquid, the viscosity of the gas, and also diffusion constant that sits approximately between those two matter states.
CO2 also comes with the benefits of being a chemically inert and non-flammable solvent, therefore it can be safely mixed with a little amount of other co-solvent in order to make a solvent with an ideal polarity. At room temperature, it exists in gaseous form and there is no risk of remaining solvents being present in the separated cannabinoid fractions, as the carbon dioxide will naturally evaporate at room temperature.
Supercritical Fluid Chromatography has some unique advantages in terms of technologies, as compared to high-performance liquid chromatography and other novel chromatography technologies. The solid silica-based stationary phase will last for approximately 100 to 1000 runs with HPLC and flash chromatography. On the other hand, centrifugal partition chromatography exclusively uses a liquid stationary phase, which can mostly be recycled and exist as an improvement on the durability of HPLC. SFC systems can run thousands of cycles before parts need to change due to the novel properties of the supercritical fluid solvent. The accessibility of SFC equipment is one of the largest limitations nowadays for the cannabis industry. But at present, only a handful of technology suppliers produce supercritical fluid chromatography systems appropriate for academic and analytical purposes.
Concluding words
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that supercritical liquid chromatography plays an important role in the cannabis industry. It has the potential to become a real heavy-hitter in the world of industrial-scale CBD isolate production if the technique can lift itself out of its relative obscurity within the cannabis sector. Hopefully, the information shared in this blog regarding SFC will be more beneficial for you according to your search. Feel free to reach out to the official website of Thar Process if you want more information. Happy searching!
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