Supercritical extractions

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When a substance is heated and pressurized beyond its critical point, it turns into a supercritical fluid capable of working as a solvent to strip away oils and essential compounds. It is used in a variety of industries for botanical extractions with several different types of fluid, but in the cannabis world, it generally refers to CO2 extractions. Supercritical extraction by nature is not particularly selective in terms of what it extracts, so many CO2 processors need to utilize a secondary solvent such as ethanol or hexane in order to remove waxes and chlorophyll prior to delivering a finished product.