Luke Van Trieste of BR Instruments joins us to discuss CBD isolate crystallization. We get deep into the equipment, solvents, and SOPs used to crash out those crystals. We cover static and dynamic crystallization, as well as the continuous flow processes that are beginning to come online. In addition to the BR Instrument crystallization reactors, we discuss their patented spinning band distillation equipment.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
Jason Showard - 00:00:10 
Hello and welcome to Episode nine of The Modern Extractor. This podcast focuses on the processes, equipment and science found in a cannabis extraction laboratory. I'm your host Jason Showard, and I work professionally in the cannabis extraction field. Here in season one, we're focusing on ethanol extraction and post processing, with each episode digging into a particular stage in that process. The shows are released in an order that follows the workflow through a lab as material makes its way from cultivar to concentrate. 
 
Jason Showard - 00:00:39 
Last week we had Jay Horton on the show. He's the founder of Genovations and the man that got me started distilling cannabis. We talked specific SOPs for wiped film and rolled film distillation. We went through how to push your machine to the absolute limit and get the maximum throughput out of a wiper. He hit us with a ton of distillation knowledge gained from his years of experience in the trenches cranking out liters, as well as his experience installing and training on Chemtech equipment. 
 
Jason Showard - 00:01:05 
Moving on to this week's show, let's catch back up with a work in progress. So far, we've performed a cold ethanol extraction in a centrifuge. We've cold filtered the resulting miscella through a lenticular filter. We ran the filtered miscella through a falling film evaporator to separate the oil and the ethanol. We decarboxylated the crude oil to convert the cannabinoids. We terp stripped, then we distilled the oil, creating some beautiful golden distillate. As I said last week, distillate is the end of the line for THC. 
 
Jason Showard - 00:01:34 
But today we'll take CBD distillate a step further in the purification process and crystallize it into 99.9% pure CBD isolate. Joining me on the show today is a man who has processed many a kilo of isolate. He's very well versed in the equipment, solvents and processes of CBD crystallization. He's usually found flying around the world installing and training on BR instrument crystallization reactors, as well as their patented spinning band distillation equipment. He certainly knows his way around a cannabis extraction laboratory. 
 
Jason Showard - 00:02:06 
Luke Van Trieste, welcome to The Modern Extractor. 
 
Luke Van Trieste - 00:02:09 
Hi, thanks for having me. 
 
Jason Showard - 00:02:10 
Absolutely. Where are you calling in from today? 
 
Luke Van Trieste - 00:02:13 
I live just outside Baltimore, Maryland. 
 
Jason Showard - 00:02:15 
Right on. You were telling me earlier it's a snowy day out there. It's a rainy day here in Los Angeles. 
 
Luke Van Trieste - 00:02:21 
Yeah, plenty of bad weather lately this winter. 
 
Jason Showard - 00:02:25 
So talk to me a little bit about your path to joining BR instruments. 
 
Luke Van Trieste - 00:02:31 
So this is actually my 10th year at BR Instrument. I basically started off in high school doing graphic design content and creating marketing materials. I worked there through most of high school and college, until I got my degree in chemistry. And then I transitioned into my role, into doing installations and trainings. So if you buy a piece of our equipment, there's a...