Nextleaf Solutions Ltd., a leading developer of cannabis processing technology and a leading cannabis processing patent assignee, was just issued its ninth patent (U.S. Pat. No. 10,780,442) for a method of separating trichomes from cannabis, making what is otherwise known as bubble hash.
Patent ‘442 discloses that water chilled below 10° C is mixed with cannabis ground to a size between 1 cm and 2.5 cm and is agitated in the chilled water to separate the trichomes from the raw cannabis matter. Agitation involves the use of a gas as well as a blunt agitator rotating from 50-500 rpm. After which, the cannabis-trichome slurry is sieved through a series of sieves beginning with a mesh size of about 200 mm and working down to about 15 mm. The retained trichome matter is then dried into a powder and decarboxylated.
Trichomes are the sticky outgrowths on cannabis plants that house the sought after cannabinoids. In essence, they are the cannabis money makers, so it’s likely Nextleaf Solutions will be licensing this patent, as they have been doing with prior IP.
Nextleaf Solutions is one of three leading assignees in the Magic Number® Cannabis Patent Forecast® “Processing - Extraction” category. Subscribe to the Cannabis Patent Forecast to find out more about Nextleaf Solutions’ competitors and how they stand in the U.S. cannabis market.
