Cannabis Lab Testing Equipment 101: List & Uses
Within the industry of cannabis, cannabis lab equipment for potency and mycotoxin testing is crucial. There are several various lab equipment utilized in cannabis testing. They include:
- High-performance liquid chromatography with potency
- Inductively coupled mass spectrometry using plasma for heavy metals
- Mass spectrometry using gas chromatography or liquid chromatography mass-spectrometry for pesticides
Gas chromatography to determine test of residual solvents
In addition, the majority of states have strict laws for different types of cannabis testing, which makes laboratory testing an integral component of the legal framework that surrounds cannabis products.
Lab owners, both new and established, must find the equipment they need to achieve these goals while reducing costs and increasing profits.
The cannabis products purchased from a licensed location must have passed a string of tests conducted by accredited state labs to ensure that they are safe for consumption and simple to use.
The increasing usage and legalization of medical cannabis have created a need for more Cannabis testing facilities.
Cannabis Lab Testing Equipment
Cannabis lab equipment requires a variety of analytical instruments, many of which are required in the cannabis laboratory. These labs test for cannabinoids, potency, heavy metals, pesticides, residual solvents, moisture, terpene profile, microbial and fungal growth, and mycotoxins/aflatoxins.
Does the patient need help in putting together an Order?
Analytical Chromatography (GC, HPLC): Analytical chromatography can detect the presence and concentration of various elements in the cannabis sample. It involves dissolving the sample in liquid and then pouring it into an absorbent.
Different compounds pass throughout the absorbent at various speeds, leaving different color marks in the background. The color separation is a way to determine the amount and quality of different substances.
The two most frequently employed analytical chromatography methods are gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC), and, mainly, High-performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).
Mass Spectrometry (MS) (GCMS, LCMS): MS analyzes the mass of chemical compounds and molecules in an experiment. Testing using MS equipment is a flexible process because of its capability to analyze pesticide residues, terpenes, and cannabinoids.
MS instruments also offer the most precise method for mycotoxins that are trace-level and permit more robust and reliable analysis of pesticides and terpenes residues.
PicoSpin NMR
The Quantitative Polymerase Chain reaction (qPCRs) reveals genes required to produce CBDA and THCA. Also, it identifies microbes, bacteria, or fungi that reside in the plant.
Benchtop and Ultra Centrifuges: Centrifuges allow the patient to quickly separate the patient samples and precisely increase the effectiveness of cannabis tests. They are the ideal tools to use in any extraction process.
Moisture Analyzers: This technique can help determine the THC content if water changes cause results to be inaccurate. Moisture analyzers are a reproducible and repeatable method to test the water content.
Cannabis Lab Testing Applications/Solutions
Testing equipment for cannabis labs allows labs to extract substances from the cannabis plant and then test the plant’s potency and contaminants. The most commonly used applications are:
GCMS with autosampler headspace.
Final thoughts
As technology advances, that has led to the development of new and better cannabis lab equipment is constantly being created. For instance, a MyDx Analyzer is a handheld plastic device with a set of sensors that allow the user to identify chemicals present within the sample. It can also examine the content of the flower’s THC, CBD, CBN, THC, and CBDa cannabinoids and more than 20 Terpenes. The decision on whether this is suitable for the patient depends on the requirements of the patient lab and the goals the patient has set for the patient self.
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