After your car accident, the last thing you wanted to do was get hooked on painkillers. That’s why you joined the almost 50 million Americans who use cannabis-derived products for medical and recreational use!
You try to stick to hemp products because they’re legal in the United States. But, with so many products that claim to contain hemp oil, it has you thinking. What is the hemp extraction process like?
There are a few different ways manufacturers extract hemp oil from the plant. Keep reading to find out all the ways they do it!
What Is Hemp Extract Used For?
Humans have used marijuana for thousands of years to treat a wide range of ailments. Now that the public is warming back up to the use of marijuana and hemp products, we’re learning about some of the amazing hemp extract benefits again. Studies show that hemp can help relieve symptoms like inflammation, pain relief, depression, and much more!
Types of Hemp Extraction
There are 2 main categories of extraction methods. The old school methods use different solvents to extract the hemp oil but newer methods can do the same process without solvents:
Methods That Use Solvents
These are the most common extraction methods that use some kind of solvent to extract the oil. They are not the only methods, but the most popular:
- Ethanol Extraction – uses superchilled ethanol to dissolve and extract the hemp oil from the plant matter
- Carbon Dioxide Extraction – like ethanol extraction, this method uses super cold CO2 to get the hemp extracts
- Hydrocarbons – This method uses solvents like butane or propane
- Oil Extraction – You can also use vegetable oils like coconut, olive oil, or almond oil
Solventless Methods
Newer methods of extraction seek to get a more pure flavor by extracting oil without solvents. These are the most popular solventless ways to get hemp oil extract:
- Mechanical Separation – This method uses ice water to draw out the oil from the plant matter with no chemicals involved
- Cold Pressed – Put the plant matter between two cold slabs and crush it until the oil oozes out in this method
- Rosin Pressed – This is like the cold press method, but you use gentle heat instead of cold slabs
- Screened and Hand Pressed – When you use a fine screen to grind the plant matter, it produces a hemp powder called kief instead of oil
Hemp Hemp Hooray
Whether you use hemp for topical or internal purposes, hemp has all kinds of benefits for your mind and body. That’s why mother nature included it in her medicine cabinet!
Keep this article in mind if you ever want to use extracted hemp oil or concentrates. That way, you can choose the products extracted the way you want.
We hope you enjoyed reading this article and that you learned about the different hemp extraction methods. If you’re looking for more lifestyles, self-care, and more check out the rest of our blog today!