A complete production line for medicinal hemp, from inflorescence to pharmaceutical-grade isolate.
In September 2024, the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry issued Regulation 32661, establishing the legal framework for the licensed cultivation of hemp and the extraction of its active compounds. We engineered our turnkey cannabis solution to meet the requirements of that regulation — a six-step pharmaceutical workflow that takes fresh inflorescence in one end and delivers a >99% pure CBD isolate out the other, with terpene, essential-oil, and seed-oil fractions as marketable co-products.
From dry inflorescence to >99% pure isolate.
Each stage is independently designed, characterized, and optimized using the methodology described under Process Development. The conditions shown below are typical baselines that we calibrate against the client's specific raw material in a brief commissioning phase.
Drying & storage
Air drying, dehumidifier-assisted drying, or freeze drying brings the inflorescence below 13% moisture. Hot-air drying is avoided — it volatilizes the terpene fraction we want to keep. Storage at −20 °C prevents cannabinoid degradation; at room temperature, THC and CBD lose roughly 5% per month.
Decarboxylation
Cannabinoids occur natively in their acidic form (CBDA, THCA) which is polar and poorly soluble in supercritical CO₂. A controlled thermal treatment converts them to the neutral, non-polar form (CBD, THC) that the extractor can actually pull out. Done correctly, this single step gives a 10-fold concentration gain in the extract relative to raw plant material. We perform decarboxylation either in a dedicated convection oven or directly within the extraction vessel, depending on throughput.
Supercritical CO₂ extraction
The decarboxylated material is loaded into the extraction vessel and exposed to supercritical CO₂. Pressure and temperature are programmed to selectively extract terpenes first (at lower density) and then cannabinoids (at higher density), or both together in a single high-pressure run depending on the chemovar and the client's process economics. Yields of around 10% of dry inflorescence with greater than 50% CBD content in the crude extract are typical.
Inline winterization (wax precipitation)
Cuticular waxes — long-chain n-alkanes (pentacosane, heptacosane, nonacosane, hentriacontane) — co-extract alongside the cannabinoids and dilute the final product. The classical fix is to dissolve the crude in cold ethanol and filter, which is slow, expensive, and requires solvent recovery. We do it differently: the first separator is held at low temperature so that waxes precipitate out at high pressure while cannabinoids and terpenes stay in the dense CO₂ stream. No ethanol, no solvent recovery, no waiting overnight.
Wiped-film molecular distillation
The wax-free crude is fed into a wiped-film evaporator under high vacuum. A spinning wiper spreads the feed in a 0.1–0.5 mm thin film across a heated wall; the short residence time and low pressure prevent thermal decomposition of the cannabinoids. Because terpenes were already stripped in the SFE stage by pressure programming, only a single distillation pass is needed — not the usual two. The distillate is typically >75% CBD, with around 80% of the CBD present in the crude extract recovered.
Cooling crystallisation
The CBD-rich distillate is dissolved in a hydrocarbon solvent and slowly cooled in a jacketed reactor. CBD nucleates and grows as crystals while THC and remaining minor cannabinoids stay in solution. A single crystallisation pass typically delivers >99% pure CBD with total THC well below the 0.3% regulatory threshold. Crystals are recovered by vacuum filtration and dried in a vacuum oven.
What a complete line produces, per day.
The same six-step process scales linearly across SuperEx extraction vessel sizes. The ranges below assume a single shift, 24-hour operation, and dried inflorescence containing approximately 15–18% total cannabinoid content. Higher-cannabinoid chemovars deliver proportionally more CBD per unit of biomass.
30 L — 1000 L production line.
The full chain, under one roof.
Most companies selling cannabis extraction systems are equipment vendors who hand you a pile of stainless steel and a phone number. The AltraFlora–SuperEx partnership does something different: we design the process, build the equipment, validate it in our own laboratory, and install it at your site with the operating protocol already proven on your raw material.
Process & equipment from one team
SuperEx engineers the SFE, distillation, and crystallisation hardware in-house. AltraFlora chemists optimize the process on your raw material. No vendor finger-pointing when something needs tuning.
CE-marked, EN-compliant
All pressure equipment ships with CE Machinery Directive certification and a complete technical safety file per EN 15614-1 and EN 13445. Ready for installation in a GMP facility.
Documented tech transfer
Written SOPs, operator training, and a confirmation production run on your installed equipment. Your staff finishes commissioning knowing how to run the line, not just read a manual.
10-year spare-parts guarantee
Production of spare parts is guaranteed for ten years from delivery, against a two-year warranty on installed equipment. Critical wear components — high-pressure seals, valves, pump diaphragms — are kept in stock.
Frequently asked questions
Which steps does the turnkey line cover?
Six: drying and storage, decarboxylation, supercritical CO2 extraction, inline winterization, wiped-film molecular distillation, and cooling crystallisation to pharmaceutical-grade isolate.
Is the equipment certified?
All pressure equipment ships with CE Machinery Directive certification and a complete technical safety file per EN 15614-1 and EN 13445, ready for installation in a GMP facility.
What support do you provide at commissioning?
Written SOPs, operator training and a confirmation production run on your installed equipment, so your staff finishes commissioning knowing how to run the line.