Development of a field-portable thin-layer chromatography based chemical analyzer for cannabinoid sample analysis
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Engineering, School of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Ravishankara, Adithya
issued: 2023-01-01T08:00:00Z
issued: 2021
related degree: Master of Applied Science - MASc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Industrial cannabis production has been steadily growing over the past decade due to the legalization of recreational cannabis in many regions around the world. For both regulatory and quality purposes, companies must ensure that their products meet industry standards, generally quantified as concentration of cannabinoids. A separate group that faces similar requirements are farmer of cannabinoids as they seek to optimize yield during harvest. The gold standard for quantification of cannabinoids is done using an HPLC/LCMS and other chromatographic methods which are expensive. In this thesis a low-cost, automated, and field-portable quantitative chemical analyzer is developed based on thin-layer-chromatography (TLC). The working principle of the device involves using TLC to separate the various molecules in a mixture. Once separated two visualization methods are employed to selectively visualize the compounds. Analysis is performed by taking HDR pictures of the strip under both visualization methods and performing densitometric analysis using computer vision techniques (multi-spectral analysis). The output of this system provides compositional analysis of a complex mixture. The device is used to detect THC, THCA, CBD and CBDA. The performance of the device was evaluated and an overall accuracy of ±0.5 mg/mL is given in the range of 0.5 mg/mL to 5 mg/mL, which meets the error tolerance for industrial standards. A vaporization chamber is developed as well to measure the total concentration of the sample to ensure the sample concentration meets the device requirements. The vaporization chamber has a measurement accuracy of ±0.27 mg/mL. Due to the versatile nature of the device, other industries such as cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food are proposed as possible future targets.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/80531
note: Development of a field-portable thin-layer chromatography based chemical analyzer for cannabinoid sample analysis by Adithya Ravishankara B.Sc., University of Alberta, 2017 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF APPLIED SCIENCE in The College of Graduate Studies (Mechanical Engineering) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) December 2021 © Adithya Ravishankara, 2021 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: Development of a field-portable thin-layer chromatography based chemical analyzer for cannabinoid sample analysis submitted by Adithya Ravishankara in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering . Dr. Mina Hoorfar, School of Engineering Supervisor Dr. Homayoun Najjaran, School of Engineering Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Jonathan Holzman, School of Engineering Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Shahria Alam, School of Engineering University Examiner iii Abstract Industrial cannabis production has been steadily growing over the past decade due to the legalization of recreational cannabis in many regions around the world. For both regulatory and quality purposes, companies must ensure that their products meet industry standards, generally quantified as concentration of cannabinoids. A separate group that faces similar requirements are farmer of cannabinoids as they seek to optimize yield during harvest. The gold standard for quantification of cannabinoids is done using an HPLC/LCMS and other chromatographic methods which are expensive. In this thesis a low-cost, automated, and field-portable quantitative chemical analyzer is developed based on thin-layer-chromatography (TLC). The working principle of the device involves using TLC to separate the various molecules in a mixture. Once separated two visualization methods are employed t…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2022-02
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0406133
language: eng
degree discipline: Mechanical Engineering
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Hoorfar, Mina
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/80531