Hemp: The Feedstock that Dare Not Speak its Name

Business News/Analysis, Canada, Co-Products, Feedstock, Feedstocks, Field/Orchard/Plantation Crops/Residues, Hawai'i, Kentucky, Opinions, Oregon, Policy, R & D Focus, Sustainability

July 7, 2014

Print This Article Share it With Friends

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … We first started tracking hemp back in 2009, when a 43-acre biomass trial launched in California that features hemp as a feedstock. The notoriety of hemp’s cousin, marijuana, has created both passionate supporters and opponents of the feedstock, which for centuries provided useful by-products such as rope, but acquired a massive brand identity problem after reefer acquired wide popularity in the 1960s as a recreational drug.
The prospect of combusting hemp for energy or fuel, well, it prompted some titters. After all, the prospect of a cellulosic process that converts hemp fiber into ethanol struck some readers as a means of “converting dope into hooch,” and it landed the story a place in our 10 Most Bizarre Biofuels Stories round-up for in 2010.
But time passes, and so did laws approving the use of marijuana in Colorado and Washington state — and medical marijuana elsewhere, and hemp has made progress in its return to the above-board commercial world. Earlier this year, the Hawaii state legislature has approved a bill that would allow the University of Hawaii to undertake two years of research into hemp as a biofuel feedstock, but the approved bill has strengthened the language to ensure that marijuana is not used instead of hemp. The state’s House of Represented added $72,600 in research funding to ensure there was enough to undertake the program.
Hemp and dope: the facts
Bottom line, hemp is a non-food crop that grows on infertile land and does not have psychoactive properties like its cousin the cannabis plant. It’s one of a family of plants that provide what are known as “bast fibers”.
…
In the world of biofuels, the primary interest to date has been from the biodiesel community, which has an interest in hemp oil.
…
Amongst researchers, a team at the University of Connecticut are experimenting with hemp as a potential biodiesel feedstock and are preparing development of a multi-feedstock manufacturing facility.The 200,000 gpy plant will be built with a $1.8 million grant from the DOE. Research shows that hemp-based biodiesel burns at a lower temperature than biodiesel produced from other feedstocks.
But there are applications as a feedstock for power gen, via pellets.
…
Alberta was back in the news this past January when Cylab International tipped that it was looking for locations to site $32m plant, which would process hemp fibre into construction materials and animal bedding with biofuel as a by-product. Cylab said that growers were “highly receptive” to the idea of growing hemp for the plants, and that it expected its plant to be operational by 2015. READ MORE and MORE (Marijuana) and MORE (Oregon Live)
‘Exploding’ marijuana industry threatens B.C. farmland (BCLocalNews.com)

Comments are closed.

Advanced BioFuels USA