JBLandrace

Delta-8, Delta-9 (I'll abbreviate them d8 and d9) are isomers of one another. HHC is almost an isomer, but instead of having a single double bond it has a fully saturated ring, so it has two extra hydrogens.
Anecdotally, d8 and d9 have similar effects, with d9 being the stronger of the two. HHC is said to be somewhere in between. From a biological perspective, they're all metabolized roughly the same way, and their effects could be attributed to their affinity for CB1 receptors in the brain.

It's tough for me to answer in more detail about biology specifics, there's a lot of emerging research, especially on HHC. Hopefully we'll know more in the near future.

So our matrix is based on an existing technology called a SNEDDS, an acronym for self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system. Cannabis oil can be heated and mixed into this matrix, which then allows it to mix into beverages. The upside is that customers can use their own cannabis oil at their facility, we just provide the matrix.

It's a bit hard to describe in words, but the matrix can be thought of as a lifeboat for cannabinoids, which allows it to be mixed with water without separating.

In hemp-derived distillates, CBD is the dominant cannabinoid. By a stroke of pure luck, CBD is less soluble in pentane than THC, which allows us to manipulate the temperature and do some really fun physical chemistry.

For example, we can pour 10 kg of hemp distillate into a jacketed, vacuum chamber, add 20 kg of pentane, and mix it until homogenous. One it's fully mixed, we drop the temperature fast down to -30C, and let it mix for a while. Once it's cold enough you'll see the CBD physically separate from the mixture. What's left behind we call "mother liquor", and it has a relatively high percentage of d9-THC, along with several other minor cannabinoids and a good amount of CBD leftover.

So in summary, it's left over in the mother liquor, and we can then use that in other experimental processes, although we can't sell it in Tennessee yet.

As for the fizzy drink, yes we can! I actually am working on a blackberry, strawberry, and root beer for a customer right now. The blackberry one is pretty killer, in my humble opinion.

SENDS might be fancy and specialized, but at its core, yes it's an emulsifier.

The industry has a lot of secrecy and fly-by-night companies present in it. I can't recommend any particular brands as I'm not familiar with many, but I would say choose a brand that has a long reputation and offers detailed certificates of analysis on each of their products. That will lead you in at least the right direction.