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Consumers and manufacturers of products that have been infused with THC or CBD are probably very familiar with two key issues that plague the product class: slow onset time and uneven dosing of the active ingredient. In a bid to provide a solution, many groups are marketing “water-soluble technology,” or “nanotechnology.” The vast majority of the groups claiming water-soluble (more properly referred to as “water-compatible”) technology are offering up a nanoemulsion.
Nanoemulsion technology is a very promising and accessible solution. It has the ability to allow for both (1) rapid onset and (2) uniform distribution of the active ingredient in infused products such as beverages, gummies, and water-based topicals. Unfortunately for most businesses and consumers, there are many factors that can destabilize a nanoemulsion and eliminate the benefits of the technology. Making things even more difficult is the fact that consumers and businesses are usually not equipped to properly evaluate their options, due to the technology being so new in its commercial use.
In order to evaluate your options, whether you’re a consumer or a business looking to enhance your products, you need to have a high-level understanding of nanoemulsions and how they are made. Put very simply, you create a nanoemulsion when oil is combined with functional ingredients and then blasted with energy or combined with a catalyst which, in both cases, causes the oil particles to split into smaller pieces. When made small enough, the particles disperse uniformly in water and won’t separate out into larger globs of oil. Other added benefits of the small size are a dramatic drop in the onset time for THC – from around 45 minutes to under 10 minutes – and increased absorption of the active ingredient.
