TEK Converting CBD to THC using only Zeolite and heat.

[Hyper Turtle]

I've been thinking about the oxygen. Maybe it is a dumb idea, but what about simply using vacuum sealed plastic bags like we use to freeze food? Afaik, they are safe to cook/boil stuff in, so i'd kinda assume they'd still be safe in the 105°C to 150°C range?

[Edit] I just looked up the bags i have, and it says safe up to 100°C. But it doesn't say the exact material they're out of. Good thing is, yesterday i finally received my CBD, and a pretty nice amount. So i will do my first conversion later today, and i will do one in aluminium foil and another one in such a plastic bag. If i lose a gram of CBD, so be it.

[Edit again] Oh i found it. The bags i have are 70% PE and 30% Nylon. For PE, wikipedia says 120°C is ok for short term (which i'll assume 15-30min falls under). It melts at 130°C. I did not find the numbers for nylon with a quick search. So i will still do the experiment, but make sure i don't go above 120°C.

 

[Hyper Turtle]

The vacuum bags are holding up alright at ~120°C (no thermometer, that was the lowest number on the wheel of my little sandwich oven).
What i don't know (yet) is if they lead to plasticizer contamination.

I mixed an equal weight of CBD and zeolite in a little jar, and made 3 little sealed vacuum bags:


I left one for 15, 20, and 25 minutes each.

Next i'll add ethanol 96%, filter out the zeolite, and evap the ethanol. I'm afraid that will have to wait until tomorrow though.
------------------------
[UPDATE 2024/02/08]

This evening, i dissolved in 96% ethanol and filtered.

Opening the bags was less fun than i would've hoped. The outer plastic layer/s were toughened yet a bit brittle, the innermost layer sort of fused with some zeolite. After freezing the bags and (i thought) completely removing the plastic, dissolving the thc left behind not only zeolite, but pieces of plastic:


I dissolved and filtered them separately. The bags didn't all contain the same weight, the 20min one is lighter color because it was the lightest one and therefore the least saturated. The 15min one didn't get as clear as the other two, maybe i'll filter that one again.

------------------------
[UPDATE 2024/02/09]

Evaporation in progress:


4h later, no discernible smell of ethanol anymore:


I took the 20min one, added 2 drops of the SFV OG profile terpenes, and made a cartridge - i had to heat the glass to get it to flow down.


After a little bit of occasional puffing from this, i am very happy! It tastes and feels very similar to (alleged) extract cartridges i had in the past. It really takes just a drop or two of terpenes to make this super tasty. The high so far is more clear headed, less sedated but also not with so much of that blissful warm feeling in the chest.

 

[The Traveler]

Yesterday I did the following:

1. Took my CBD to THC result.
2. Added 3ML of PG.
3. Heated it up to 70C+.
4. Stirred well until all was dissolved.
5. Added 2ml of VG.
6. Added two drop of menthol oil.
7. Pulled the result into a syringe and dropped part of it into a vape tank:

I took a few puffs (at 0.2Ohm, 25W) that were very smooth, and after about three puffs and a few minutes later my IQ dropped significantly, so it works for sure!


Kind regards,

The Traveler

 

[GuitarRyu]

The vacuum bags are holding up alright at ~120°C (no thermometer, that was the lowest number on the wheel of my little sandwich oven).
What i don't know (yet) is if they lead to plasticizer contamination.

I mixed an equal weight of CBD and zeolite in a little jar, and made 3 little sealed vacuum bags:
View attachment 96578 View attachment 96579

I left one for 15, 20, and 25 minutes each.View attachment 96580

Next i'll add ethanol 96%, filter out the zeolite, and evap the ethanol. I'm afraid that will have to wait until tomorrow though.
------------------------
[UPDATE 2024/02/08]

This evening, i dissolved in 96% ethanol and filtered.

Opening the bags was less fun than i would've hoped. The outer plastic layer/s were toughened yet a bit brittle, the innermost layer sort of fused with some zeolite. After freezing the bags and (i thought) completely removing the plastic, dissolving the thc left behind not only zeolite, but pieces of plastic:
View attachment 96602

I dissolved and filtered them separately. The bags didn't all contain the same weight, the 20min one is lighter color because it was the lightest one and therefore the least saturated. The 15min one didn't get as clear as the other two, maybe i'll filter that one again.View attachment 96603

------------------------
[UPDATE 2024/02/09]

Evaporation in progress:
View attachment 96608

4h later, no discernible smell of ethanol anymore:
View attachment 96615

I took the 20min one, added 2 drops of the SFV OG profile terpenes, and made a cartridge - i had to heat the glass to get it to flow down.
View attachment 96616

After a little bit of occasional puffing from this, i am very happy! It tastes and feels very similar to (alleged) extract cartridges i had in the past. It really takes just a drop or two of terpenes to make this super tasty. The high so far is more clear headed, less sedated but also not with so much of that blissful warm feeling in the chest.

What a delightful read this thread is.
Perhaps the tinfoil method, but inside the vac bags might be worth a shot?

 

[SingularFusion]

great things going on in here

thank you for your contribution everyone

may give it a shot at some point, will report how it goes, if and when

 

[fractals4life]

A friend of mine (really, I'm not being "online coy" ) has been trying silicone baking sheets for wrapping the mix ( "cutting some holes in it, folding in four, then putting the mix in the cavity, sealing the top and bottom with uncut sheet and weighing it down with a pyrex lid in the oven" ) and says the sticky end result comes off really easily after baking.

That sounds like a pretty airtight method, I'll let you know how they get on

 

[GuitarRyu]

I'm wondering if a Rosin press would perhaps make this a little more precise and repeatable. Would pressure help the reaction?
I have one with a pressure gauge but waiting on some parts from China as the connection to the gauge bust.

Can you have too much zeolite in the mix? I n terms of negatively affecting the result?
I see most cases in the google patent doc used a solution with fairly low amounts of zeolite proportionally.
What is actually going on at the chemical level during this conversion if anyone can explain further?

Zeolite in the vape mix is the only thing that concerns me.
Would a 2micron syringe filter still let the good stuff through?
If anyone has syringe filtered some of this end product, i'd love to see what was left behind.

Anyway, goodies on the way to join in with the fun.

 

[The Traveler]

Just for fun (I have bulk CBD) I did a conversion of 25g.

Lessons learned:

• It's REALLY easy to perform the packing and oven stage.
• Mixing the Zeolite with the CBD is best done with a small clutch to break up any blobs of CBD. Mix it well!
• After you get it out of the oven, let it first cool down to room temp, then put it in the fridge. Take out when cool and hard, this way its more easy to remove it from the aluminum foil.
• Ethanol 96% works perfect for dissolving the end result.
• Once all is dissolved, let this mix settle for a while until all Zeolite dropped to the bottom. Then decand the liquid. Repeat this a few more time to end up with as little zeolite as possible in your end result, this so the Zeolite will not immediately clog the filter and you not having to use multiple filters, and loosing more products in each.
• Drying the mix from the 96% ethanol (also 4% water) can be done at relatively high temp of 80C+.
• THC is extremely sticky; once you get it on your hands, normal soap will not work removing it. I used IPA to get it off my hands.

Then for getting it into a vape mix:

• I dissolved it in PG, I used THC : PG ratio of 1 : 9 (thus 10% THC in this vape liquid mix).
• Heating to 80C+ and stirring helped a lot quickening the dissolving part.
• Adding VG to this THC/PG mix did not work really well, with me it immediately created an emulsion, making for parts of the THC to drop out again and float on top.

This THC e-liquid I brought it with my vape to my friends, who enjoy THC, to test it out. With the right settings you can get from mild up to very strong hits, depending on your needs. Its easy to puff and it worked well for all of them. When set on high expect hard hits on the lungs.

Vape settings I used with my Geekvape M100: 0.3Ohm coil, TS-SS, 190C, 20W. The relative low wattage makes it easy to just hold the hit button to get to the strength you need.


Hope this will give you all some insights in this process.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

 

[GuitarRyu]

So there's a .5g and a 5g test sitting in 99% iso solution.
The .5 was isolate with some terps that was at least a year old.
The 5g was fresh but they both looked the same in color and consistency.

Still waiting on filters but I have some clean vaping wick cotton if that will work as a filter in the mean time?
The small one sill looks cloudy and grey with a tiny layer of grey sludge on the bottom
The larger one looks to have visibly separated very well and iso is dark honey type of hue

I'll add a few images when results are in but both mine looked like dark brown with a hint of grey with few dark specs and kinda balled up like low quality soft hash.

I'm also super low on Iso. Can I use Naptha or Acetone if both super clean and no water?

 

[The Traveler]

Still waiting on filters but I have some clean vaping wick cotton if that will work as a filter in the mean time?

The Zeolite I have is really fine material (maybe also the reason why it works so well for me?).

Mine would pass through the vaping wick cotton is my expectation.

The small one sill looks cloudy and grey with a tiny layer of grey sludge on the bottom
The larger one looks to have visibly separated very well and iso is dark honey type of hue

I'll add a few images when results are in but both mine looked like dark brown with a hint of grey with few dark specs and kinda balled up like low quality soft hash.

My result, when cooled, was a very even gray clay looking color.

When separated with ethanol and dried to a very thick syrup like wax it was a transparent darker brown color.

I'm also super low on Iso. Can I use Naptha or Acetone if both super clean and no water?

Acetone might work, just make sure it's clean and evaps completely from the end result.

I would not use naphtha, due to it taking a long time to evap and being very smelly.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

 

[The Traveler]

Also I discussed this with my friends, and you could probably directly make THC chocolate with the Zeolite still in it if you have no other means of seperating at hand.

Oral zeolite should not be an issue when you take it in space-chocolate in a normal dose.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

 

[GuitarRyu]

The Zeolite I have is really fine material (maybe also the reason why it works so well for me?).

Mine would pass through the vaping wick cotton is my expectation.


My result, when cooled, was a very even gray clay looking color.

When separated with ethanol and dried to a very thick syrup like wax it was a transparent darker brown color.


Acetone might work, just make sure it's clean and evaps completely from the end result.

I would not use naphtha, due to it taking a long time to evap and being very smelly.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

My Zeolite is apparently 300 micron. Feels silky between the fingers.
In the bag it looked like it was gonna poof up easily and get airborne but it seems to be much heavier particles than MRHB powder and was fairly easy to work with.

I'll evap off a couple ml of the honey looking one and see if some cotton make up pads or something can filter the small cloudy looking one that hasn't separated.

 

[Transform]

My Zeolite is apparently 300 micron. Feels silky between the fingers.
In the bag it looked like it was gonna poof up easily and get airborne but it seems to be much heavier particles than MRHB powder and was fairly easy to work with.

I'll evap off a couple ml of the honey looking one and see if some cotton make up pads or something can filter the small cloudy looking one that hasn't separated.

If you have a Büchner funnel, you could try filtering through a layer of diatomaceous earth (celite).

 

[The Traveler]

If you have a Büchner funnel, you could try filtering through a layer of diatomaceous earth (celite).

What percentage of the zeolite would that grab in your guestimate?


Kind regards,

The Traveler

 

[Transform]

What percentage of the zeolite would that grab in your guestimate?


Kind regards,

The Traveler

All I can really say is this is the standard way of removing stubborn fine particulates, typically activated charcoal dust. I'd have to do some searching for actual figures.

You can check for relative success by light beam shining a light beam through the filtrate, and observe scattering or (hopefully) lack thereof.

 

[murklan]

Nice to see that the experiments continues! I will try to get some silicon food safe sheets too. I've had the mass to stick really hard to the foil, using 96% alc. it took some time and effort to get it all into solution.
Another thing. The 4-5 experiences I've had with it (dissolve in ethanol, evaporate and mix with hemp oil) I have taking orally from ~30 to 70mg THC (if the conversion was 50% CBD/THC). All of the times it takes 3h for me to feel any effect. I keep it sublingual for 2 min. before swallowing. Strange since when I've made edibles myself before I feel the effect in under 1h.
For those of you that have taking is orally, how soon do you notice any effect?

 

[GuitarRyu]

Quick update as I have to crash an hour ago.
The 3ml evap from the bigger separated one concentrated down to enough to smudge on a rizla fairly liberally and I rolled a dube with just a pinch of bud.
Definitely more from this spliff than expected but nothing on the level of good concentrate.
Added a couple pin heads to my coil in my ecig vape using a Geekvape Avocado (juice below so coil is accessible with juice filled) and after a couple hits, there's certainly what I would describe as a mild concentrate type of vibe to it.

Will try on a clear head tomorrow and update with pics.
Thank you!
Good night.

 

[THanoC]

Nice to see that the experiments continues! I will try to get some silicon food safe sheets too. I've had the mass to stick really hard to the foil, using 96% alc. it took some time and effort to get it all into solution.
Another thing. The 4-5 experiences I've had with it (dissolve in ethanol, evaporate and mix with hemp oil) I have taking orally from ~30 to 70mg THC (if the conversion was 50% CBD/THC). All of the times it takes 3h for me to feel any effect. I keep it sublingual for 2 min. before swallowing. Strange since when I've made edibles myself before I feel the effect in under 1h.
For those of you that have taking is orally, how soon do you notice any effect?

this is because most edibles contain a lecithin molecule in order to increase bioavailability of THC, to increase the shelf life and as an emulsifying agent, if you want to test this in real time, consume your THC with a spoon of sunflower or soy oil (sunflower oil contains a small amount of lecithin, soy oil contains more)
edit: i suppose you used some sort of plant oil when you made edibles before, terpenes and minor cannabinoids could also increase bioavailability according to some reports.

 

[doubledog]

Nice to see that the experiments continues! I will try to get some silicon food safe sheets too. I've had the mass to stick really hard to the foil, using 96% alc. it took some time and effort to get it all into solution.
Another thing. The 4-5 experiences I've had with it (dissolve in ethanol, evaporate and mix with hemp oil) I have taking orally from ~30 to 70mg THC (if the conversion was 50% CBD/THC). All of the times it takes 3h for me to feel any effect. I keep it sublingual for 2 min. before swallowing. Strange since when I've made edibles myself before I feel the effect in under 1h.
For those of you that have taking is orally, how soon do you notice any effect?

I have tried the conversion and consumed it as edible few times (in form of chocolate), and it took just under 1h to feel first effects.

 

[murklan]

this is because most edibles contain a lecithin molecule in order to increase bioavailability of THC, to increase the shelf life and as an emulsifying agent, if you want to test this in real time, consume your THC with a spoon of sunflower or soy oil (sunflower oil contains a small amount of lecithin, soy oil contains more)
edit: i suppose you used some sort of plant oil when you made edibles before, terpenes and minor cannabinoids could also increase bioavailability according to some reports.

Aha, I did not know that that was the reason for lecithin. But I've never had a store bought edible. They have al been done by me or friends. With hashish or home made 'canna-butter'. Always mixed with some kind of fat/oil. I have not had isolated THC in a edible so I've always had 'terpenes and minor cannabinoids' as you write. That is a thought.
But I suspect something else. Either that my conversion is mostly CBD. Or that it is high in Δ-8 THC I feel it different to what I'm used to. ... Or that 50% CBD make it feel different for me.

I have tried the conversion and consumed it as edible few times (in form of chocolate), and it took just under 1h to feel first effects.

Strange. That sounds a bit more convenient, then ~3h for me