The Great Grow in Cannabis was in focus during Session 3 of the day, as attendees heard that only 1% of the global market currently enriches their plants with CO2 by traditional atmospheric gassing methods.
That was an arguably shocking message from Dil Vashi, Corporate Development Manager at CO2GRO, when he told the story of how the company hopes to feed more than half a billion people worldwide with its CO2 growth technologies.
Based in Toronto, Canada, CO2GRO is seeing, and now actively acting, on this huge market opportunity as it looks to transform protected growing for the better with its ‘Magic Mist’ solution for agricultural purposes and the cannabis market.
“CO2 GRO uses over 90% less CO2 usage, compared to traditional enrichment. Whilst doing this, we also improve air quality for workers and reduce pesticide and fungicide use,” Vashi told attendees.
Right now, the company has many trials happening across the North American market.
Whilst these trails are underway, the firm has already seen completes trials showcase production increases upwards of 20%. Offering more CO2 for roots and shoots, CO2 Delivery Solutions™ can be integrated into existing boom or overhead misting systems or, if needed, implemented at almost any protected grower space with a custom design.
When it comes to results, the installation and costs related to deploying the CO2GRO technology more than pay off. Whether used for cannabis, kale, peppers, orchids or for other plant types, growers are guaranteed heightened growth.
Put in numbers: CO2 Delivery Solutions™ can result in 25% more bud and biomass yield for cannabis plants, 35% more biomass and fuller and thicker heads for kale, 20% more fruit yield and 10% faster fruit ripening for peppers, and orchids can flower up to 30% quicker.
“We now have active cannabis trials and are monitoring our technology,” Vashi said.
Source: gasworld
Systems to Meet Growing Demand for CO2
Hector Villarreal, President of Weldcoa, was next to take the stage – and he unveiled a brand-new innovation that is set to transform the cannabis and supercritical CO2 market as we know it today.
Villarreal identified essential oils, herbal distillates, CBP and cannabis as new CO2 supply opportunities and growing market spaces. When it comes the great growth in cannabis, he told delegates, “Extraction applications typically involve producing essential oils and herbal distillates as well as hemp, CBD and cannabis oils.”
“Weldcoa has specifically created solutions to support the growing demand of CO2 supply needs for the extraction applications. For this, we [Weldcoa] has developed equipment and controls to supply carbon dioxide to extraction machines in a wide range of phases from gas to liquid to supercritical fluid.”
Trying to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, Villarreal highlighted the role supercritical CO2 could have when it comes to the cannabis space, given its clean process of removing unwanted impurities.
“To support the market, Weldcoa started to look at what potential CO2 and supercritical CO2 have in the existing market, and the more we looked, the more opportunity that we saw,” Villarreal explained.
“We began to look at the emergency emerging cannabis industry, and as we discussed this with the different extractors we found, by and large, they really liked the idea of supercritical CO2 because it was a green product.”
“A lot of them were using hydrocarbons to extract oils, which was working, but they understood that the supercritical CO2 was a safer method for extraction.”
As a result of this intense research, Villarreal told gasworld CO2 Summit delegates about Welcoa’s latest CO2 Supply System to support the cannabis market.
“Weldcoa has developed two general product offerings for this industry. One is the gas-based supply system, and then there’s a liquid phase. There are subcategories beneath these, but those are the two general categories. “
“At the end of the day, we were able to increase the flow rate, we reduced the charging time, and we increased the extraction cycles per day and we eliminated all that labour that they had. We basically changed the game for all the extractors.”
“Before we developed this, they were really very primitive early stages and now they’re producing more product with a higher yield and it’s able to compete against the hydrocarbon extraction methods.”
Those attendees that didn’t attend Session 3, heard all about cryogenics and cold chain logistics in Session 4, with Cold Jet, Dohmeyer and Premier Cryogenic Services
Source: gasworld