Starting with my recent work for an established equipment manufacturer, my contributions to the nascent hemp processing industry can be found further below. Enjoy!
In 2022, I was drawn to develop continuous reactors and crystallizers for a company looking to expand application of its vibrational platforms into chemical processing. This work offered a chance to design processes in an established environment alongside seasoned chemical and mechanical engineers. The following items represent some of the R&D-oriented contributions I made:
May 2022: As part of my interview, I presented a concise mathematical solution and mechanical response of the spring-coupled system underlying the company’s flagship vibration platforms, per the schematic and parameter values (spring, damping coefficients) provided in a patent.
Fall 2022: With aptitude and enthusiasm for signal analysis, I empirically modeled a relation between paste solids content to temperature and speed of sound, obtained by ultrasonic Time-of-Flight (ToF) measurements. Depicted are the measured signal, the Hilbert envelope, and the imaginary part of the Hilbert transform underlying the improved ToF method I implemented.
Spring 2023: More HPLC maintenance—for reaction characterization, I developed and oversaw a robust HPLC method which required optimized buffer selection, pH, and concentration. The method reliability set the foundation upon which process optimization and project completion were achieved.
Raw data before windowing.
Comparing experiment summary stats.
Mass flows from totalized mass balance data.
Fitting models to washout curves.
Summer 2023: The above figures are typical of the project I led to characterize continuous liquid-gas mixing. The following features describe the MATLAB package I built to move beyond resource-intensive Excel analysis towards automated workflows:
Analyzed sensor data, generated figures organized by test plan number, letter, and experiment ID
Resampled sensor data from LabVIEW structured array TDMS files to constant time step
Saved resampled sensor time series in quick-access CSV tables
Visualized resampled sensor time series for identification of steady state time windows
Recorded steady state time windows in CSV data table
Analyzed steady state sensor time series for Fourier content & summary statistics
Visualize (box plot) summary statistics for comparison of selected experiments
Evaluated mean liquid flow rates and pulsatile content from totalized mass balance data
Read data table of tracer step injection and saturation times to window conductivity data
Analyzed residence time distributions by methods of moments, error function model fit, and CSTRs in series model fit
Generated data tables of realized liquid holdups, mixing model fits, and moment-based mixing metrics
Assed statistical significance of independent variables on mixing performance
Recorded high-speed images for connection of mixing performance to flow regime
Late Summer 2018, I moved to Colorado seeking work in the emerging industry for processing industrial hemp into therapeutic products. I saw opportunity in working for a cause, applying my engineering background, and "getting in early." During this work, I gained significant exposure to the dynamics of the emerging market and am most encouraged by my development of a simple, safe, and phytochemical-preserving process called oil infusion. The following images convey development of my sense of entrepreneurial technological development:
Fall 2018: Began working with a startup processor during the industrial hemp boom.
Fall 2018: MJBizCon, Las Vegas
Fall 2018: Used falling film evaporators for crude hemp oil production
Winter 2019: First short path still I set up and operated for crude hemp oil distillation.
Spring 2019: Cannabidiol crystals.
Spring 2019: Began work for Hemp Harvest Innovations (later acquired by Left Hand Technologies). This is the MCT oil infusion equipment they were testing when I arrived; I contributed a process flow and valve network that was used to build higher capacity equipment that effects a counter-current separation for high extraction efficiency.
Spring 2019: I proposed using electrostatic precipitation to collect vaporized cannabinoids and set up this first experiment as a proof of concept. Based on my findings another company patented the method and now sells multi-million dollar equipment for a scaled-up version of this process.
Summer 2019: The continuous, pilot-scale equipment that I conceived and briefly tested for using hot gases to extract cannabinoids from biomass. Soon thereafter, I had to shift focus to oil infusion and was unable to further pursue developing this extraction method.
Fall 2019: Implemented HPLC methods and calibrations for cannabinoid potency analysis.
Fall 2019: Production-scale infusion equipment that was built and operated at HHI incorporating my contributions to process flow and valve configuration. Nearly $400k income was generated by this equipment through sales and processing by the end of 2021. The process uses no hazardous solvents and streamlines production of strain-specific infused oils for formulation into edibles and topicals. Partners who left HHI also built a nearly identical infuser and started companies that sells retail infused oils and equipment.
Fall 2019: I trained a group of Indiana farmers who bought an infuser from HHI for hemp processing per my explanations. Later certified USDA organic, the process continues to run and has infused thousands of pounds of hemp into hundreds of gallons of carrier oil.
Winter 2020: Microbubble patterns while collecting infused oil. I performed five two-week production runs of this oil in 2020 for a local wellness retailer, delivering over 60 gallons and bringing HHI over $70k.
Summer 2020: Crystallized CBD. Through small tests, I identified the potential to also use HHI's infusion equipment to make concentrated and isolated cannabinoids with neither hazardous solvents nor cryogenic cooling. I continued to develop this process as a safer and cheaper means to make concentrates at scale than conventional methods (e.g. ethanol and hydrocarbon extraction).
Fall 2020: Through consistency and low costs demonstrated by my infusion processing, the wellness retailer requested that HHI design and build a smaller piece of infusion equipment for purchase.
Winter 2021: Delivered the new infuser to Oregon and spent a day training our clients.
Winter 2021: Began performing bench-scale infusion tests with higher quality hemp and collecting efficiency data to share with the cannabis extraction community and drum up interest in the safe, low-cost, and true-to-the plant method.
Winter 2021: Benchtop, 30 mL infusion column demonstration with lavender and MCT oil.
Winter 2021: HPLC maintenance.
Spring 2021: Installed and operated a 50 L reactor for production of high-potency CBD-derived distillates.
Spring 2021: Installed and operated a 10 liter short path still for production of high-potency CBD-derived distillates.
Summer 2021: CBD-derived distillate.
Summer 2021: Began operating a 1 L infuser to produce quality batches at a larger scale for sample distribution and marketing.
Summer 2021: My wife Rebecca was hired by HHI and began developing new products such as herbal-infused face oils. Pictured is an infused sunflower seed oil that was used to make a hemp salve.
Fall 2021: The poster that Rebecca and I took to MJBizCon for our shared booth.
Fall 2021: Rebecca and I at MJBizCon talking about infusion.
Winter 2021: HHI's infusion equipment was featured in Grow Magazine's list of "Essential Products" for cannabis processing.