Why it matters
Extraction concentrates cannabinoids and terpenes into an oil or oleoresin that can be refined into finished products. The two dominant industrial methods are supercritical CO2 (clean, expensive, requires high capital equipment) and ethanol (efficient, lower capital cost, requires careful solvent removal). Hydrocarbon (butane, propane) extraction is more common for cannabis than hemp.
In practice
The extraction method affects which compounds end up in the final extract and at what ratio. CO2 is good at cannabinoids and most terpenes; cold ethanol preserves a broader matrix; warm ethanol is fast and high-yield but degrades more terpenes.
Common confusion
“Solvent-free” hemp extraction is largely marketing — CO2 is technically a solvent, and the few genuinely solventless methods (rosin press, ice water hash) are uncommon at hemp scale.
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