Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) crop valorization: phytocannabinoids extraction and isolation

This PhD work is part of EUREKA project co-founded by the University of Camerino, Regione Marche, and COOPCANAPA company. CANAPA REVOLUTION project was born with the aim to valorize at industrial level hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) crop culture. The main objective was to obtain cannabidiol (CBD) from hemp inflorescence and leaves to be sold and used in industrial applications. The COOPCANAPA company located at Castelbellino (Jesi, Marche, Italy) planted and harvested more than 300000 square meters of hemp field during the 3-year project. As part of the EUREKA project, the following instruments have been acquired: an industrial rotary evaporator with a 10 L amber flask (Buchi R220 Pro), two flash chromatography isolation units (Buchi C810), and a wiped film distillation unit from VTA (VKL 75). Objectives: • The first and main objective of the project was to develop an isolation route to obtain CBD crystal at high purity. This work was carried out in the University of Camerino using the industrial evaporator and flash chromatography isolation units. • The second objective was to evaluate the feasibility of the scale up of the isolation of CBD. Regarding the scale up the VTA wiped film distillation was the main instrument used. • The third objective was to evaluate the possibility to isolate minor cannabinoids present in hemp samples to better understand their biological properties. • Finally, being Essential Oils (EOs) the main focus of my research group, we decided to conduct different researches on hemp EOs extraction and characterization. Additionally, by-products of hemp processing were also investigated for the presence of active compounds. • I spent the first two years at the University of Camerino where the first to objectives were carried out and evaluated. I also spent 6 months at COOPCANAPA company, during which I was able to get an industrial point of view on hemp. The UNICAM supervisors for this project were Professors Riccardo Petrelli and Filippo Maggi whereas the COOPCANAPA tutor was Cristian Cesaroni. This thesis contains the results of this 3-year project and it’s divided as follows: 1) Introduction: A brief state of the art on hemp, cannabinoids and extractions techniques 2) Result and discussion of works carried out during PhD: • EUREKA project: CBD extraction and isolation procedure • EUREKA project: Scale up of the procedure, wiped film distillation case study • EUREKA project: CBGA isolation from hemp trichomes • Hemp EOs research: characterization of hemp EOs obtained from commercial varieties • Hemp EOs research: Hemp EO and Lupulus EO characterization 3) Conclusion and future prospectives The two works related to hemp essential oils (EOs) in the thesis were not a primary objective of the EUREKA project and cannabinoid recovery. However, I chose to incorporate these works into the thesis because they were conducted in collaboration with UNICAM research team over the course of three years. Indeed, these studies significantly contribute to the valorization of hemp crop production.