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The ABC of CBD production
CBD, THC and other phytocannabinoids can be produced 3 different ways:
Agricultural, Biological or Chemical production.
What are the pros and cons?
Agricultural
Hemp is grown on farms, harvested then dissolved in solvents to extract CBD.
- set up: planting takes weeks
- 3-4 month batch time
- seasonal production
- high environmental impact
- subject to climate
- high chance contamination
- lower purity
Agricultural CBD is labour intensive, weather dependant and difficult to purify as hemp plants accumulate environmental toxins. BioPharm does not use this method.
Biological
The Cannabis DNA sequence that signals CBD production is isolated then used to brew CBD from yeast in biology lab.
- set up: gene sequencing takes years
- brewing time in weeks
- year round production
- lowest environmental impact
- not subject to climate
- low chance contamination
- very high purity
Bioengineered CBD is the most economical to produce in the long run, but developing the route to each compound takes some years. BioPharm has proprietary technology in this area under development and expect to see results around 2025.
Chemical
Chemically pure CBD is copied exactly from nature and synthesized in a pharmaceutical laboratory using organic chemistry methods like any other medicine.
- set up: factory build takes months
- can produce batch every day
- can work year round
- some environmental impact
- not subject to climate
- contamination unlikely
- very high purity
This Pharmaceutical method produces a highly pure product without contaminants, it is less labour intensive than Agricultural methods, and BioPharm has developed a very economical method for producing large amounts quickly, and technology for eliminating waste to offset environmental impact.
Which is most suitable for you?
Up until now Agricultural CBD has dominated the market, as pharmaceutical CBD was too expensive. Consumers have been told that natural products are better because many of the natural impurities are beneficial. Doctors are largely not recommending CBD products for concerns around quality control, and lack of medical data. Pharmaceutical manufacturers have no tolerance for impurities and are moving towards Chemical CBD.
Today health authorities are advising that many of the impurities in agricultural CBD are highly toxic. Amongst these concerns neither the FDA or EU have cleared CBD for general consumption.
If your application requires the highest specification of purity, or you want peace of mind that your production line will never be stopped by QA due to contaminated input materials, you should talk to us about non agricultural sources of CBD.
You might find that the prices are becoming comparable.
