Understanding decarboxylation and how it affects extracts is crucial to vape products’ overall quality and brand loyalty. In fact, a commonly asked question of our team is, “How much decarb loss can we expect with our live resin/rosin?”
To answer, we’ve put together the ultimate guide to extracts and decarboxylation. Here, we’ll cover all the basics, like the definition of decarboxylation and how the process affects extracts. In addition, we’ll dive deep into what type of decarb loss to expect and how to maintain optimal environments for terpene preservation.
So, next, let’s get into decarboxylating, a.k.a. decarbing.
The Decarboxylation Process for Extracts
Generally speaking, decarboxylation is a chemical reaction that removes a carboxylic acid group from a molecule. For cannabis extracts specifically, when THCa converts to THC upon applying heat, the carboxylic acid group transforms into CO2 gas. Put another way, each molecule of THCa that decarboxylates, degrades into one molecule of THC and one molecule of CO2 gas.
Most of these CO2 molecules bubble out of the extract naturally during the decarb process. However, some will remain in the extract solution and must be removed before filling cartridges, a process called degassing. To do so, extractors must manually agitate the solution to allow the dissolved CO2 to form bubbles and pop; degassing prevents what’s known as “champagne” cartridges—you know, the ones with “bubbly” inside.
If not degassed after decarb, the oil can foam out of the cart when filling cartridges. This is due to the leftover CO2 bubbling out of solution since it’s naturally agitated while moving through the pump.
How Decarboxylation Affects Extracts
Of course, that’s just the underlying basics of decarboxylation for extracts. Beyond ensuring your extract is decarbed for efficient filling, optimal decarbing conditions are essential for ensuring customer satisfaction.
As we mentioned previously, decarboxylation is the process responsible for changing THCa in an extract into THC. This is an especially crucial step for all-in-one vapes or vape cartridges, as THCa will crystallize if it is above 50% by weight. Once it’s crystalized, it will clog the vape, leaving it otherwise unusable. Likewise, if the oil is too hot or exposed to too much air during decarb, undesirable degradations and losses can occur to the terpenes creating a bland or burnt flavor when vaped; maintaining gentle heating and low oxygen exposure during decarb ensures a tasty vape experience for the consumer.
For Vape-Jet, formulations must be more than 90% decarboxylated to produce a suitable cartridge. If it is not decarbed enough, the heat required to thin the oil sufficiently to pump it into the vape will begin to decarb the oil inside the machine. This will create those bubbles of CO2 inside the cartridge, which cause spills and product loss, or undesirable “champagne” cartridges. All of which can affect an extractor’s bottom line and brand loyalty.
What to Expect: Decarb Loss with Extracts
Wondering what to expect from decarb loss with your brand’s extracts? We did the math for you, showing the theoretical maximum loss due to decarboxylation alone. For this part, we’ll assume we’re starting with 100% pure THCa isolate.
Each mole (a quantity of stuff, not the cute burrowing animal) of THCa weighs 358.478 g, each mole of THC weighs 314.469 g, and each mole of CO2 weighs 44.009 g; the weight of THCa minus the weight of CO2 equals the weight of THC. The maximum theoretical loss due to decarboxylation can be calculated as follows:
44.009 g CO2/358.478 g THCa = 12.3%
This means that if you completely decarb and degas pure THCa, you will have only THC left and it will weigh 12.3% less than when you started.
In reality, your starting extract destined for high-quality vape cartridges will have lots of other cannabinoids, terpenes, and everything else that makes a full-spectrum vape cartridge so desirable and command a premium price; luckily, most extracts come with a Certificate of Analysis (COA) for cannabinoids (a total terpene analysis will be nice to have too!).
Since extracts are predominantly THCa, we’ll go ahead and ignore the other cannabinoids for this next part, but it’s worth noting that THCa isn’t the only cannabinoid that can be decarboxylated.
Decarboxylation of THCa will never reach 100% without distilling the extract, so 90% of the theoretical maximum decarboxylation is a good target; put another way, shooting for 12.3% losses isn’t practical for full-spectrum vape cartridge oil formulations, we’re aiming for 11.07% decarb loss to CO2 (90% of the maximum) for live-resin, live-rosin, or any full-spectrum extract.
To start, weigh your extract before decarboxylation and multiply that mass by the percentage of THCa to get the total starting amount of THCa; we’ll assume the starting COA says it contains 75% THCa by weight. Taking 11.07% of the total THCa content will give you the mass you’re targeting to lose to achieve 90% decarboxylation; after decarboxylation and degassing, weigh the extract again to get the finished mass. The difference between the starting mass and finished mass will be mostly due to CO2 leaving the extract.
Now, the example calculation to break down the math a bit further.
Example calculation:
Starting extract mass: 1000g
THCa content from COA: 75%
Starting Mass of THCa: 1000g * 75% = 750g
90% of maximum loss of CO2: 750g * 11.07% = 83.025g
Finished extract mass target: 1000g – 83.025g = 916.975g
Optimal Environments for Terpene Preservation
Another factor to consider when producing an elite vape product is the preservation of terpenes. Terpene preservation is always a losing proposition; even the best genetics, best growing conditions, and most gentile extraction techniques will never result in a terpene profile that is precisely true-to-strain-as-grown inside a vape cartridge, but each step in the process offers the opportunity to at least prevent unneeded terpene loss and degradation.
Decarboxylation will also affect the extract’s finishing terpene composition to varying degrees, depending on the temperature the process is performed at, the duration of the process, and using a lid vs. no lid. Aleks Zed at Hashtek is putting in the work to elevate everyone’s game with Open Source research into all things hash, and we were super stoked to see his results on this very topic. Please read his findings in full at Hashtek.ca for a deep dive into the crucial question of pressurized vs. atmospheric decarb (i.e. lid vs. no lid).
TL;DR: terpenes are best preserved during decarboxylation with low temperatures and high pressures in the absence of oxygen.
So, with all the care taken to grow, extract, and process your extract to preserve as much of those lovely terpenes as possible in preparation for making vape cartridges, you wouldn’t want your vape cartridge filler to foul all that hard work. Vape-Jet helps extractors retain their terp-forward extracts by providing optimal environments for terpene preservation, such as three independent heat zones and a nitrogen-pressurized fluid path for filling. The nitrogen pressure not only allows the heaters to operate at low temperature, but the nitrogen displaces oxygen from the reservoir; low temp and low oxygen are the keys to efficient vape cartridge filling, yielding high-quality flavor as true-to-strain-as-possible for the consumer.
Vape-Jet: A Filling Solution for Premium Extracts
In the competitive cannabis industry, standing out among the crowd is as crucial as decarbing. At Vape-Jet, it’s our mission to boost extractors’ success by providing expertly crafted, field-tested, and AI-powered vape-filling products for ground-breaking service and support.
Take the first step towards revolutionizing your brand’s reputation through a renewed commitment to innovation. Explore Vape-Jet for your cannabis extracts and vape products
