Hemp Biofuels: High Energy, Low Environmental Impact

Aviation Fuel (Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)), Business News/Analysis, Feedstocks, Field/Orchard/Plantation Crops/Residues, Marketing/Market Forces and Sales, Opinions, Sustainability

January 31, 2023

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(Global Hemp Association) … “Biofuel” is an umbrella term for a number of different types of energy produced from biomass. The main fuels are biodiesel, bioethanol, renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel, and renewable natural gas.

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Studies show that hemp biomass, with a greater lignocellulosic content, provides a higher net energy ratio. Hemp biomass also isn’t a food source. So, why aren’t we using hemp now as a biofuel? Processing takes an extra step.

Hemp stands straight and tall. That’s because of the lignin in the stalk. As the plant reaches maturity the percentage of lignin increases. More energy is needed to separate the cellulose and hemicellulose, which are easier to process, from the lignin, which is very recalcitrant. Hemp harvested while green has less lignin. Several methods, including physical, chemical, biological, and physicochemical, are used to increase the cellulosic sugar recovery to create a higher yield of ethanol.

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Hemp biomass, including leaves, stem, and inflorescences has a cellulose content of 80%. But producing ethanol from hemp takes an extra step not needed with corn, soy, sugarcane, or other ethanol feedstocks.

Research is ongoing to find more economical ways to separate the cellulose from the lignin.

Industrial hemp has many uses. Fior example, a farmer growing grain hemp or food has a great deal of biomass left in his field at the end of harvest. Part of that, left as crop residue, will be food for soil biology, but some of the stalk might be used as a source of hemp biodiesel. That would give a farmer two revenue streams.

Hemp stalks, or hurd, may be destined to a processor who will be using it for composite building materials or bioplastics. But at the end of the day, even the processor will have waste products. It may be in the form of dust, hemp hurds, or stalks that didn’t feed well into the processing machine.

There are ever-expanding uses of hemp. Just as regenerative ranchers are now looking to use all parts of a steer, hemp growers want to market all the hemp material for economic benefit to their farms.

If Patagonia can use the ”waste” steer hide to make shoes and handbags, why can’t a biofuel manufacturer use processed hemp “waste” to make biofuels? READ MORE

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