How Ziel Makes Your Life Easier
Pass Microbial Testing
10-15 Minute Cycle Time
No Hidden Costs
99.9% Uptime
Maximize Profitability
Protect Your Brand
No Permit and Label Hassle
Data Analytics
What Is Microbial Testing and How Does Failing Impact Your Company’s Financials?
Microbial testing is a regulatory requirement in every market - and will only become tougher.
Microbial contamination in cannabis presents one of the most significant financial threats to every operator as well as a health threat to consumers. Your business and brand are on the line with every batch of product.
Failed flower reduces your top line revenue, leaving thousands of dollars on the table. Cannabis that can't be sold as flower and sent off to extraction impacts your company’s financials. Incorporating a ‘kill step’ into your SOPs maximizes your revenue and profit.
See how much revenue you can add to your business with our calculator.
How Ziel Solves Your Problems
Ziel Simplifies All the Complex Moving Parts of Remediation
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Customer Focused
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Service & Maintenance
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Throughput
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Energy Efficient
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Organic
Turn-Key Solution
Ziel doesn’t just sell you a piece of equipment, we sell you a solution. You get a whole team of experts backing you with domain experience in microbiology, data science, and operations.
A Hands-On Approach
Beginning with an onboarding meeting before your APEX arrives, we ensure your Installation, Commissioning and Training is complete in just 4 days. You will begin commercial operations within a week. Your Customer Success representative will continue to monitor your processing for the first 6 months.
Easy to Operate Equipment
APEX’s HMI user interface consists of easy-to-use menus of pre-programmed processing formulas, developed by Ziel staff on-site with your team.
Direct Engagement
You have access to Ziel’s R&D, Operations, and Data Science experts. Talk to a real person who understands your success criteria.
Customer-specific dashboards are built to monitor and measure your results.
No Third-Party Maintenance Contractors
Only Ziel employees work on your APEX. Our remote diagnostics allow us 24 hr access to your unit if your operators need help troubleshooting. Ziel keeps stores of critical spares at its US based service center.
Highest Throughput on the Market
Process up to 150 LBS in your 8-hour shift – up to 450 lb in a day!
No Recovery Time
APEX requires no recovery time between cycles.
99.9% Uptime
Our units are built with the same durability we use to pasteurize nuts and seeds – up to 2,000 lb per hour, 24/7. APEX is built with solid state electronics and with no moving parts, engines, or conveyors.
APEX is designed to run continuously 24/7 - especially important when you demand high throughput to reach the market.
Energy Efficiency
The APEX equipment is more than 70% energy efficient – most likely the most energy efficient piece of equipment at your facility.
Energy Use
Each cycle will require just 1 kWh of energy. That’s about $0.20.
An 8-hour shift will cost less than $10.00 in electricity.
Thermal & Non-Ionizing
Radio Frequency is recognized by the FDA as a compliant process for organic food certification (and one day soon for cannabis!). The use of ionizing technology on Cannabis will disqualify you under existing FDA guidelines. .
Brand Identity
Consumers demand to know how their products are grown and treated. Using radio frequency – a thermal process – protects your brand.
Ziel’s Hands-On Approach
Onboarding
Installation & Commissioning
Ongoing Engagement
Why Choose Radio Frequency from Ziel
| Competitor | Ziel | Peer 1 | Peer 2 | Peer 3 | Peer 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technology | Radio Frequency | X-Ray | Ozone | Reactive Oxygen | Gamma | |
| Operations | Throughput / 8 hr | 144 lb | 50 lb | 20 lb | 80 lb | N/A |
| Facility Upgrade | $0 | $20,000 | $0 | $0 | N/A | |
| Warranty | 3-Year | 1-Year | 1-Year | 1-Year | N/A | |
| Finance | Unit Cost | $304,000 | $360,000 | $6k/mo | $140,000 | Toll Model |
| Disposables | Yes | No | No | Yes | N/A | |
| Processing $ / lb * | $1.81 | $8.14 | $6.46 | $26.52 | $17.00 | |
| Quality | Efficacy | >99% | >99% | >95% | >95% | >99% |
| Product Labeling | Thermal | Ionizing Radiation | Other | Chemical | Ionizing Radiation | |
| Organic |
*5 Year Levelized Cost of Processing
Fully Loaded Capital and Operating Costs
Throughput in 8-Hour Shift, 365 Days Per Annum
Success Stories: Michigan Cultivator
The Problem
Ziel’s customer was sitting on 1,600 lb of flower from a 2021 outdoor harvest that was treated with Ozone and did not pass regulatory testing due to a high level of heat tolerant coliforms & BTGN microbial pathogens.
Ziel’s Solution
- Ziel designed unique process settings to address the customer’s specific product profile
- August 2022: commercial processing begins
The Result
- Processed nearly 50% of the inventory in the first month
- Passed 100% Michigan microbial regulatory testing
- October 2022: sold 100% inventory
- Achieved premium pricing by retaining potency and product quality
- Recovered $1.0M in lost revenue in 2 months from installation to product sales
Average Customer Results
Recovered revenue using Ziel's APEX 7 cannabis decontamination machine
Pass rate for microbial testing
Flower processed daily
Cannabis Machine: Apex 7 Market Data
Countries utilizing Ziel's technology
Strains processed
Machine uptime
In The News
Frequently Asked Questions
What Does Mold On Weed Look Like? How To Fix Moldy Bud?
Looks can be deceiving. Mold is naked to the human eye and can only be detected by laboratory testing. Cannabis flower with high microbial loads can look the same as flower with a low mold count. Without remediation flower with a microbial load will continue to grow and eventually visible mold will appear.
Remediation processing can kill the mold, but they cannot remove any visual mold from the bud. The best practice is to remediate the cannabis before mold becomes visible.
What Are Microbials?
Microbes are tiny organisms that are found in the environment around us. Some of them can cause illness while others are harmless. The most common types of microbes are bacteria, viruses and fungi.
What Does Water Activity Level Do To Cannabis?
Mold and other microbes thrive in a moist environment. The water activity level determines whether there is sufficient water activity present for growth. A water activity level below 0.65, often measured on a certificate of analysis, will prevent mold growth or regeneration.
How Do You Pass Microbial Testing?
Two ways.
Firstly, employing best practices and rigorously following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will minimize microbial pathogens. However, mold is always present at some level in every facility. You may pass as low as 50% or up to 99%, and your success may fluctuate widely depending on seasonality, cross contamination, drying, handling or other factors.
Secondly, incorporate a remediation strategy as part of your SOPs. Remediation is a ‘kill step’ that occurs prior to lab testing and packaging.
What Is Powdery Mildew On Weed?
Powdery Mildew is caused by a group of fungi. When the cannabis flower is covered with light gray or with a white powdery spot, it is safe to assume this is powdery mildew.
What Does Remediated Mean?
Cannabis remediation means that the flower has been treated to reduce yeast, mold or other microbes.
Why Is Radio Frequency The Best Option For Clean Cannabis?
Radio Frequency is a safe, organic, and fast method of treatment that does not affect the quality of the flower. Radio Frequency is also recognized as compliant with organic processes.
What Makes Non-Ionizing Technology Better?
The use of ionizing technology on cannabis disqualifies you from organic claims. Radio Frequency is recognized by the FDA as a compliant process for organic food certification (and one day soon for cannabis!).
Get in Touch with Us
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