Product Processing, Extraction, and Manufacturing
Processing pathways
Understand the major extraction methods: hydrocarbon (butane/propane), ethanol, supercritical CO2, and solventless (rosin, ice-water hash). Know the trade-offs: selectivity, yield, safety, and regulatory acceptance. Grasp the sequence of post-harvest handling (drying, curing, trimming), decarboxylation (converting THCA to THC via heat), winterization, filtration, distillation, and formulation into tinctures, edibles, topicals, and vapes.
Safety and quality systems
Candidates must know the hazards: flammable solvents, residual solvent limits, explosion risk in closed-loop systems, and the need for proper ventilation and grounding. Understand good manufacturing practice (GMP), standard operating procedures, batch records, and the importance of validated processes. Know why potency homogenization matters in edibles and how dosing accuracy is verified. Understand that remediation of failed product is regulated and may be prohibited.
Traps in questions
- Assuming higher yield always means better quality; selectivity matters.
- Forgetting decarboxylation is required for psychoactive edibles.
- Treating solventless products as automatically exempt from testing.
- Overlooking residual solvent and pesticide limits in concentrates.
- Believing failed batches can always be re-extracted without regulatory approval.
Rule of thumb
Apply the "mass balance and batch integrity" rule: every gram of input should be accounted for in output, waste, or loss, and every batch must be traceable. Worked example: a processor extracts 1,000 g of flower and recovers 120 g of distillate plus 80 g of waste and 800 g of solvent and water loss; the mass balance closes, and the batch record documents each stream. If the numbers do not reconcile, the batch record is incomplete and the product cannot be released.