Methods for processing plant materials and producing dried products

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11946091-B2
Application number	US-202117154953-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 21, 2021
Priority date	Jan 24, 2020
Publication date	Apr 2, 2024
Grant date	Apr 2, 2024

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for processing a plant material, such as Cannabis and/or hemp. An example method includes: providing a slurry of plant material; providing an inert gas; adding the slurry and the inert gas to a tank; applying heat and pressure to the slurry inside the tank to generate a processed plant material; removing the processed plant material from the tank; and drying the processed plant material in a dryer to produce a dried product comprising cannabidiol (CBD).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of processing plant material, the method comprising:
providing a slurry of plant material, wherein the slurry comprises plant particle sizes from about 150 microns to about 450 microns;
providing an inert gas;
adding the slurry and the inert gas to a tank;
applying heat and pressure to the slurry inside the tank to generate a processed plant material;
removing the processed plant material from the tank; and
drying the processed plant material in a dryer to produce a dried product comprising cannabidiol (CBD).

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plant material comprises at least one of hemp, Cannabis , or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inert gas comprises nitrogen.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying heat and pressure comprises performing a decarboxylation process on the plant material.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying heat and pressure comprises maintaining a process temperature and a process pressure inside the tank for a process time period, wherein the process temperature is from about 110° C. to about 130° C., and wherein the process pressure is from about 45 psig to about 100 psig.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the process time period is from about 25 minutes to about 105 minutes.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dried product comprises a final moisture content from about 2.5% to about 8%, by weight.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dried product comprises the CBD in an amount of at least about 5%, by weight, on a dry basis.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dried product comprises neutral form cannabinoids in an amount from about 5% to about 28%, by weight, on a dry basis.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dryer comprises a refractance window dryer.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
pre-processing the plant material by performing at least one of destemming, chopping, or milling; and
adding water to the pre-processed plant material to generate the slurry.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising extracting a cannabinoid from the dried product.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein extracting the cannabinoid comprises dissolving the cannabinoid in a solvent.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising incorporating the dried product or a cannabinoid extracted from the dried product into a consumer product comprising at least one of an edible product, a topical product, a nutraceutical product, or a pharmaceutical product.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plant material is fresh plant material.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the slurry has a viscosity at 20° C. from about 100 Pa-s to about 120 Pa-s.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dried product comprises cellulose.

Assignees

• Gallo Winery E & J

Inventors

• Ortiz Jorge
• Keeley Nathan
• Burgess Dan

Classifications

• C12P7/22 Primary

  aromatic · CPC title

• A01H1/04

  Processes of selection {involving genotypic or phenotypic markers; Methods of using phenotypic markers for selection} · CPC title

• A01H5/10

  Seeds · CPC title

• A01H6/28 Primary

  Cannabaceae, e.g. cannabis · CPC title

• A01H5/12

  Leaves · CPC title