Testing of Vapor Emissions in Cannabis Products: Challenges in a High-Volume Testing Environment

Description:
Medicinal and recreational use of cannabinoids from vaping devices is on the increase worldwide. Whilst CBD (cannabidiol) delivery from vape devices is generally similar to the nicotine analogues in vape pens, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) delivery presents some significant technical problems. A significant feature of THC vaping devices is that as the THC content increases, the viscosity of the oil increases. Before the safety or efficacy of the aerosol delivery of THC devices can be judged it is necessary to develop well understood models for aerosol creation and delivery. In order to ensure that aerosol delivery to any capture system specific measures must be taken to volatilize the cannabis oil in a meaningful and representative manner. Different systems are deployed, simple vaping, vaping cannabis oils with various levels of diluents and finally vaping with a preheating stage .
Recovery rates onto a glass fibre pad of 90%+ could be achieved with deliveries of approximately 2mg per puff routinely observed. However, when metals in aerosol are considered the use of electrostatic precipitation was less successful with recovery rates of between 25% and 40% being achieved with some evidence correlating recovery with total cannabinoid content. A scheme is therefore proposed that mitigates the variable (high) viscosity of cannabis oils and also a proposal for an alternate trapping method specifically directed towards metals analysis.

Speaker: Stephen Goldman - Kaycha Labs
Mr. Goldman joined PhytaTech in 2015 (the predecessor company to Kaycha Labs Colorado). His primary areas of focus are the Colorado Lab Operations, Research & Development, New Test Development, and Nationwide Standardization.

Prior to joining Kaycha Mr. Goldman served as an analytical chemist at the CLIA and CAP certified Forensic Laboratories, was a chemist for Novartis (Sandoz), Kemin Industries, Genentech, and served as a contract chemist. In those capacities, he was involved in research into biocatalyst production, new chemistry entities, nutraceutical development, antibody conjugate linkers, technical transfers, quality control, analytical method development, and method creation and validation.

Mr. Goldman is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and the American Chemical Society, Cannabis Chemistry Subdivision.

Education: University of Kansas, MS Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Iowa, BS