Herbolea Biotech and Swiss Bio announce successful installation and commissioning of first large scale (500 tons per year), solventless hemp extraction plant

FLORENCE, ITALY, April 28, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Swiss Bioceuticals AG ("SwissBio"), a leading Switzerland-based integrated producer and wholesaler of organic, solvent, herbicide and pesticide-free cannabinoids and APIs for global pharmaceutical production and Herbolea Biotech SpA ("Herbolea"), an Italian biotech company that develops and licenses proprietary solventless technologies to transform botanicals into superior quality products, are pleased to announce the successful installation and commissioning of Herbolea's patented Bio-Herbolysis™ and Hydrocan™ extraction and concentration equipment at Swiss Bio’s facilities.

The GMP equipment has initial processing capacity of up to 2,000 Kg of wet cannabis flowers per day (approximately 500,000 Kg per year) and forms the first part of planned capacity expansion to approx. 3,000,000 Kg per year in line with SwissBio's planned growth in production, reference-level testing, and international distribution.

The parties have created a cutting-edge production center, based on green and sustainable technologies, whose strengths are:
• the qualitative excellence and reproducibility of the generated outputs
• support customer demands for solvent-less, pharmaceutical grade concentrates and isolates at API quality and wholesale prices
• the exceptional competitive advantage resulting from economies of scale, lean operations and reduced overall operating costs.

“This multi-year partnership is the result of several years’ of design, innovation and planning by the extended teams and forms part of our expanding global supply chain. It is the culmination of a huge effort on all sides and a landmark in the deployment of large-scale next generation extraction technologies. Our combination of quality, scale and efficiency are changing the market.” said Nigel Spencer Drummond, Chairman and CEO at Swiss Bio.

“We are thrilled to partner with Swiss Bio in one of the most advanced large-scale hemp cultivation and extraction initiative at global level” said Marco Merciai, Chairman at Herbolea, “quality, sustainability, safety and cost form a robust set of advantages which our partnership can rely on to grow and prosper.”

Bio-Herbolysis™ is a patented, highly efficient, solventless and environmentally friendly technology to extract hemp phyto-complex starting from wet or dry material, while preserving its original acidic forms and terpene profile.

Hydrocan™ is Herbolea’s solvent-less and environmentally friendly technology to selectively concentrate cannabinoids to over 90% potency, while simultaneously remediating THC without ever crossing the legal 0.2% threshold at any steps of the process.

Both technologies are highly scalable, highly efficient, solvent-less, environmentally friendly, GMP and Organic eligible.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AGREEMENT

• Target: production of cannabis-based wholesale intermediates, post-processing to be carried out at SwissBio’s facilities in the EU and North America.

• Production capacity: up to 500,000 Kg (on wet basis) initial capacity per year with the facility built and planned to expand to 3,000,000 Kg annually.

• CAPEX Savings: Herbolea estimated reduction of capital expenditures of €5,000,000. The savings consist of initial extraction equipment as well as post processing options of comparable technologies for 120,000 Kg of yearly capacity (on dry basis).

• OPEX Savings: Herbolea estimates in the range of 45% for oil-based extracts and tinctures and 60% for concentrates and broad-spectrum distillates (compared to SCFE and cryo-ethanol)

• GMP Equipment: tailored equipment built to the specific requirements of Swiss Bio and to support EU-GMP certification.

• Facility Costs and Processing: significantly lower permitting costs due to eliminating the need for solvents and the elimination of drying rooms. Improved cash conversion cycle from reduced inventory.

ABOUT SWISS BIOCEUTICALS AG (“SwissBio”)
Switzerland-based integrated producer and wholesaler of organic, solvent, herbicide and pesticide-free cannabinoids and APIs for global pharmaceutical production. The company’s ambition is to continue to grow to become the world’s largest scale producer of API-grade cannabinoids (CBDA, CBGA, CBNA and all others), terpenes and other plant derivatives all at the highest possible global quality including Organic Certification, Good Agricultural and Commercial Practice (GACP), EU-GMP, Fair-Trade and exceptional ESG ratings.

Contact press@swissbio.co to learn more.


ABOUT HERBOLEA BIOTECH SpA

Herbolea is a biotech company envisioning the use of innovative, green technologies to obtain safe, high-quality and low-cost natural products. Herbolea’s patented Bio-Refining Platform generates unique products from highly therapeutic potential botanicals in a safe, environmentally friendly, and cost-competitive way.
The company has signed licensing agreements with pharma companies in Canada, Colombia, Germany, Italy, Thailand and the US.

Contact info@herbolea.com to learn more.

Herbolea Biotech Spa
Florence - Italy
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