A method for removing oil from seed flakes, including introducing seed flakes into an extractor, thereby producing an extracted seed flake stream and a miscella stream, introducing the extracted seed flake stream into a DTDC column, thereby producing a first solvent recycle stream and a seed meal stream, and introducing the miscella stream into a distillation system, thereby producing a second solvent recycle stream and a seed oil stream.

An extractor may have a housing that maintains a solvent pool in which solids material being processed is immersed during operation. One or more bed decks can be positioned inside of the housing to provide multiple extraction stages. In some examples, the bed decks are arranged to provide one bed deck positioned at a vertically elevated position relative to another bed deck, thereby providing a drop zone where the solids material passing through the machine drops from the vertically elevated bed deck to a lower bed deck. To reduce the amount of solids material passing through the drop zone that becomes entrained in the solvent, the exactor can be configured with a settling zone. In some examples, the settling zone is formed by truncating the length of the vertically elevated bed deck, providing increased space and residence time for the solids material to fall out of suspension.

Methods and systems are disclosed for concentrating a compound found in plant material from one or more species of the Cannabis genus. A system includes a capture/heating station having at least one heating element to heat a mass of material held within the capture/heating station; at least one release station in series with and liquidly isolated from the capture/heating station, each release station defining a volume at least partially filed by a release reagent formulated to release a target product from a substrate; and a conveyor configured to carry a belt through the capture/heating station and then the at least one release station.

An apparatus for extracting an oil from plant material includes an extraction chamber for plant material. The plant material is exposed to a heated gas stream with a temperature sufficient to volatilize on oil from the plant material. The gas stream is rapidly cooled to liquefy the oil into entrained droplets. The oil is collected with a collection solvent.

Systems and techniques can be used to extract solid material with an alcohol-based solvent. To subsequently recover the solvent after extraction, the solvent-wet solid material having undergone extraction can be desolventized. The solvent-wet solid material may be desolventized in multiple stages, either in a single vessel or in multiple different vessels, to generate multiple corresponding condensate streams containing alcohol and water vaporized from the solvent-wet solid material. By splitting desolventization into multiple stages, the composition of the condensate streams generated during desolventization can be individually controlled to benefit downstream processing. For example, the first condensate stream produced during desolventization may have a comparatively low amount of water whereas a second condensate stream produced during desolventization may have a comparatively high amount of water. The first condensate stream may be recycled back to the extractor without further water removal whereas the second condensate stream may undergo additional processing to remove water.

An apparatus for extracting an oil from plant material includes an extraction chamber for plant material. The plant material is exposed to a heated gas stream with a temperature sufficient to volatilize on oil from the plant material. The gas stream is rapidly cooled to liquefy the oil into entrained droplets. The oil is collected with a collection solvent.

An extractor can be used to extract solvent-soluble molecules, such as aqueous or organic-soluble molecules, from solid material feedstock for downstream processing and recovery. In one configuration, the extractor is a percolation extractor having one or more extraction chambers each containing a screen supporting the solid materials as it is conveyed through the chamber, a fluid supply system delivering extraction fluid disposed above the solid material, and a fluid recovery system disposed below the solid materials for receiving the extraction fluid and solvent-soluble molecules contained therein. The extractor further includes a screen washing system disposed under the screen and supported against movement. The screen washing system includes a washing fluid intake and a plurality of outlet nozzles directed upward towards the screen. The screen washing system can keep the screen from plugging during operation, improving the extraction efficiency of the extractor.

A method for removing oil from seed flakes, including introducing seed flakes into an extractor, thereby producing an extracted seed flake stream and a miscella stream, introducing the extracted seed flake stream into a DTDC column, thereby producing a first solvent recycle stream and a seed meal stream, and introducing the miscella stream into a distillation system, thereby producing a second solvent recycle stream and a seed oil stream.

An extractor suitable for using a solvent to separate a compound from a solid or semisolid substance containing the compound. The extractor includes a conveying assembly having an inclined conveyor for receiving the substance from a substance inlet and moving the substance through the solvent, an inclined upper surface associated with the first conveyor and an inclined lower surface associated with the first conveyor. The conveyor is configured to move the substance downward through the solvent along the upper surface toward a lower end of the conveyor and upward through the solvent along the lower surface toward an upper end of the conveyor.

An extractor suitable for using a solvent to separate a compound from a solid or semisolid substance containing the compound. The extractor includes a conveying assembly having an inclined conveyor for receiving the substance from a substance inlet and moving the substance through the solvent, an inclined upper surface associated with the first conveyor and an inclined lower surface associated with the first conveyor. The conveyor is configured to move the substance downward through the solvent along the upper surface toward a lower end of the conveyor and upward through the solvent along the lower surface toward an upper end of the conveyor.