Christina Lake Cannabis has reported an increase of more than 175% in extraction throughput following the installation of the Vitalis Cosolvent Injection System (CIS).
The first of its kind in the cannabis industry, the CIS add-on has been developed by Vitalis Extraction Technology and is designed to enhance the extraction process for cannabis and hemp by using an ethanol-powered mechanism. Engineered as a plug-and-play add-on rather than an alteration to CO2 extraction equipment, the Vitalis CIS design allows for continued operation with the option to operate CO2 as a mono-solvent. Vitalis is a privately owned, British Columbia–based engineering company.
The cosolvent system which captures terpenes and targets desired cannabinoids, reduces runtime and operational costs as well improves winterisation. Both of which are important considerations in CLC’s extraction operations. An analysis of extracts completed using the Vitalis CIS also showed an improvement in the overall quality of the extract.
After an eight-week testing period, the Canadian outdoor cannabis cultivator and processor can now consistently process upwards of 250 kg/551 lb of biomass per day or 1,250 kg/2,755 lb per week with ease. Previously, CLC was limited to completing only three production runs on a given day, which translated to approximately 90 kg/198.4 lb of biomass per day or 450 kg/992 lb per week.
This massive boost in production efficiency has also resulted in 90% efficacy and a crude extract comprised of less than 10% fats and waxes. It will also lay the foundations for their planned shift from a wholesale-only model as well as support future growth. The firm has stated that this might include evaluating businesses such as fee-for-service cannabis extraction, providing market access to micro cultivators and the processing of industrial hemp into high-quality CBD oils.
CLC’s successive investment rounds, which have cumulatively garnered approximately CAD $16M, have allowed the Company to maintain a healthy reserve of funds too.
Well-positioned to benefit from Cannabis 2.0
Readers at The Armchair Trader will already know that CLC, a ‘second wave’ cannabis grower, cultivates cannabis using strains specifically developed for outdoor cultivation. Its inaugural harvest year produced 32,500 kg (71,650 lb) on its existing facility, and this is before development of an adjacent 99-acre expansion property. Such an expansion will ultimately bring CLC’s annual cultivation footprint to over 4.35 million square feet, which could enable at least 150,000 kg (330,693 lb) of low-cost, high-quality, sun-grown cannabis to be produced annually.
Joel Dumaresq, CEO of Christina Lake Cannabis said: “Being approached by Vitalis as the first customer to bring the new cosolvent injection system into our operations was very timely as it enabled us to economically improve our efficiency in producing cannabis extracts.”
