Sonomechanics Blog

If you want to produce cannabis extract nanoemulsions in water-soluble powder form, look no further than Industrial Sonomechanics’ (ISM) new offering — the tasteless, all-natural and organic All-In-One NanoStabilizer®-LSO formulation. Building on the tremendous success of our All-In-One NanoStabilizer®-LT introduced in 2018, the ISM team is at it again as it pushes the envelope of innovation in the production of water-compatible nanoemulsions.
Over the past year, we have experienced significant interest from customers for a flexible, yet cost-effective method to make a finished nanoemulsion in powder form that reconstitutes back into a liquid nanoemulsion upon contact with water. The creation of NanoStabilizer®-LSO now makes it possible for companies to produce such water-soluble powders from their active ingredients (CBD, Delta 9 THC, Delta 8 THC, essential oils, vitamins, nutraceuticals, etc.), bringing their branding and application ideas to life.

The video recording of our recent webinar, "Analysis, Optimization and Production of Translucent Nanoemulsions", presented by Industrial Sonomechanics' R&D Scientist, Mr. Shlomo Leibtag, and Micromeritics' Global Technical Training and Support Manager, Mr. Jack G. Saad, is now ready. The webinar had over 200 registered participants and generated close to 100 questions. Some of these questions were addressed by Shlomo and Jack during the event. The answers to the rest are provided below. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us or leave a comment below. 

Recent years have seen major breakthroughs in how vaccines and antiviral drugs are formulated and manufactured. Nanoemulsions and liposomes are now widely used as vaccine and drug carriers because they can easily incorporate lipophilic (in the case of nanoemulsions) and hydrophilic (in the case of liposomes) bioactive compounds, stabilize substances that otherwise undergo hydrolysis, and significantly reduce side effects of potent drugs. For the past 14 years, Industrial Sonomechanics (ISM) has been conducting R&D and supplying its scalable ultrasonic technology to many companies in this field, including those using it in ultrasonic vaccine production and, more recently, in the development of SARS-CoV-2 (novel coronavirus) vaccines and/or treatments of the associated COVID-19 disease. This article describes some of the challenges faced by commercial-scale manufacturers of vaccines and antiviral medications and explains how our technology contributes to overcoming them.  

For the past two years, many businesses have been using our all-in-one NanoStabilizer®-LT to convert their cannabis extracts and other hydrophobic bio-actives into water-compatible, stable, translucent nanoemulsions. Most commonly, the conversion is done in order to enhance the bioavailability and accelerate the onset of action of cannabinoids and to infuse beverages without making them cloudy. Designed to work with Industrial Sonomechanics ultrasonic liquid processors, NanoStabilizer®-LT requires no formulation development experience and is compatible with a wide range of bio-actives, including most types of cannabis extracts and isolates, pharmaceutical ingredients, vitamins, essential oils, terpenes, etc. In this post, I provide answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about this popular product.

We are happy to announce that the recording of Dr. Alexey Peshkovsky's 2019 Cannabis Drinks Expo keynote presentation is now ready. In his talk, entitled "Water-compatible cannabis extract nanoemulsions: benefits, formulation development and production methodology", ISM President & Chief Scientific Officer covered several topics critical to the cannabis-infused beverage industry.

One of the primary concerns when formulating oil-in-water (O/W) nanoemulsions is the stability of the finished product. Destabilization of an O/W nanoemulsion can occur due to several physical, chemical or biological processes that deteriorate its quality over time. Understanding and avoiding these processes is paramount to ensuring that products based on cannabis extract nanoemulsions (a.k.a. "water-soluble" CBD and THC) have a long and predictable shelf-life. In this post, common nanoemulsion destabilization pathways will be described, along with the most effective strategies to avoid them.

Sterile filtration is an important post-processing step of ultrasonic nano-emulsification - a process that converts cannabis extracts and/or other hydrophobic bioactives into a water-compatible form. In this article, I will summarize the steps of the nano-emulsification process carried out with BHUT-based ultrasonic equipment and NanoStabilizer®-LT, list the main advantages of the resulting water-compatible nanoemulsions, and explain why sterile filtration is always necessary at the end. Answers to several FAQs will also be provided.

We are frequently asked how to minimize the bitter taste of products made with cannabis extract nanoemulsions (a.k.a., water-soluble CBD and THC). Infusing beverages with CBD and/or THC-containing translucent nanoemulsions (ideally, averaging ~20 nanometers in droplet size diameter) offers a very convenient, discrete and effective consumption method. The infusion does not change the original appearance of the beverages while instantly enabling them to provide a very rapid onset of action and high bioavailability of cannabinoids as well as of any other incorporated active ingredients. With this pharmacokinetic profile, the experience a lot more similar to consuming an alcoholic beverage than a typical cannabis-containing edible, which provides a myriad of attractive options for the vendors and consumers. In many cases, however, the infusion results in a bitter taste, which can range in intensity from virtually undetectable to quite unpleasant and makes it important to understand and manage.