CBD manufacturer to expand to Pueblo

PUEBLO — Folium Biosciences, a Colorado Springs-based firm, will build a 110,000-square-foot facility in Pueblo West and create 150-200 jobs..

The company also announced last month that it will build its first international facility in Canada.  Folium Biosciences LLC  produces, manufactures and distributes hemp derived phytocannabinoids. It is a bulk and wholesale supplier of hemp-derived CBD oil and edibles with 0.0 percent THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. It is certified by the state of Colorado.

“With our industry rapidly pivoting toward mainstream food and beverage markets, purchasing an FDA registered facility made complete sense,” said CEO Kashif Shan in a written statement about the Pueblo expansion. “Five years of experience in this space has led us to identifying the proper partnerships, equipment and systems to execute with efficiency and optimum output.”

The extraction and purification facility will house five CO2 extraction skids with a 350 metric ton biomass monthly capacity. A patent pending decarboxylation and terpene collection set-up, high capacity evaporators, filtration skids, and a 50 ton CO2 bulk tank are just some of the many pieces of auxiliary equipment that will increase the company’s output capacity. Also acquired were 18 refrigerated delivery semi trucks.

“I am excited that Folium Biosciences has chosen to expand its business to a new facility in our community that will bring good-paying jobs to southern Colorado,” said Colorado Senate President Leroy Garcia. “I also look forward to exploring how the state can work together with Folium Biosciences to address the growing opioid epidemic and get Coloradans the help they need.”