HEMP APPLICATIONS
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HEMP IS A VIABLE ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND ENERGY SOURCE
Australia and New Zealand - Hemp fibre is being used as a fibreglass replacement to produce an exceptional structural material for use in buildings and even bridges! The company requires at least 10,000 tonnes per year of fibre for a pilot run, and requests are already being received from major construction firms overseas.
- Another company is working on developing a biodegradable mop-up material made from Hemp fibre impregnated with oil-eating bacteria. This product is targeted at small industrial workshops with a view to expanding into large industrial operations.
- A range of other companies is seriously exploring the potential for incorporating Hemps natural organic fibre into their products for environmental reasons.
- Unlike synthetics, Hemp fibre is renewable and will eventually breakdown.
- More importantly though, Hemp has a number of attractive characteristics including being the longest and strongest natural fibre known to man.
- Growing a Hemp crop is analogous to growing forage sorghum, requiring the same equipment and seedbed preparation.
- Industrial Hemp is grown as a high plant densities to ensure long straight stems and with good crop establishment, does not require herbicides or insecticides.
- Reports from Hemp growing regions around the world suggest that a crop of Hemp reconditions the soil, suppresses weeds and even boosts the yield of successive wheat crops.
- There is also the likely benefit of providing a break in the build up of various insects when rotated with cotton.
- There is a range of harvesting options available, which depend on where the fibre is to be sent to and used for, and how much value-adding is feasible on-farm.
- While there is a growing demand for industrial Hemp fibre world wide and it is relatively easy to grow, it should be noted that this crop is still in its trial phase in Australia, and is not yet part of a commercial production system.
- Today every State in Australia has legislation in place that allows for industrial Hemp trials under licence.
- Victoria has just introduced legislation permitting commercial production of the crop, but has yet to streamline the transportation of raw material from farm to end-user.
- Queensland has the most realistic legislation in place for trialling industrial Hemp that takes into account the need to transport material off the farm.
- Australian Hemp Resource and Manufacture has commenced a tropical/sub-tropical industrial Hemp breeding program and have already found cultivars that are expected to double the yields of currently available European varieties.
HEMP FOR CLEANING OUR ENVIRONMENT
Solvents and Cleaners
The market for natural cleaners has been in evidence for many years. Now industry is realizing what consumers have known all along; that a good cleaning job does not necessarily require chemicals. That means a rapidly growing natural cleaning market. Currently, some European companies are producing Hemp oil based cleaners.
Hemp oil detergents can be used in commercial grade laundries and dishwashers, as well as to clean engines and bodies of trains, automobiles and airplanes. Hemp based general purpose cleaners are effective alternatives for all household cleaning applications.
Why do we use petroleum based cleaning products? Are they better than natural cleaners? Are they less expensive? In many cases, the answer is "no". All cleaning products rely on "surfactants" (agents which act on surfaces). Many synthetic surfactants are derived from petroleum or other chemicals. Natural surfactants, from vegetable oils, can do the job as well or better than chemical-based surfactants. Some companies that use chemical surfactants must pay to treat their polluted wastewater in order to comply with environmental laws. Why not just use natural biodegradable cleaners and be done with it?
European tests indicate that Hemp seed oil based natural surfactant cleaners work as well or better than those based on other oils such as coconut, soy or canola.
Hemp based products can clean everything from windows and furniture to jet airplane engines. As well, Hemp oil is a candidate for many of the industrial applications covered by linseed (flax) oil. Hemp based products can clean everything from windows and furniture to jet airplane engines. As well, Hemp oil is a candidate for many of the industrial applications covered by linseed (flax) oil.
Hemp oil has a natural drying agent and is used in paints, varnishes and sealants which render wood highly resistant to water. In fact, up until 1937, all quality paints were made with a base of Hemp oil.
HEMP PLASTICS
100% biodegradable Hemp plastics are now available in various forms. The first Hemp plastic product to be commercially produced was a high fly, leading to a CD and DVD tray produced in 2004.
Hemp is used to reinforce regular plastics. The Hemp content of such materials is approximately 20%. Hemp's long fiber and specialised matrix ensure the resultant material is stronger and lighter than regular materials. Of course the 20% Hemp fibers are a replacement for some 20% of the oil based plastics used today.
Hemp can also be made into compressed door panel and dashboards. Carmakers such as Ford, GM, Chrysler, Saturn, BMW, and Mercedes are currently using Hemp composite door panels, trunks, head liners, etc.
The viability of Hemp as a composite material was demonstrated over fifty years ago by Henry Ford. In 1941, after twelve years of research, his Ford Motor Co. unveiled an experimental car made of cellulosic fibres including Hemp, flax, wheat straw and sisal plus 30% resin binders, molded under a hydraulic pressure of 1,500 p.s.i. (Popular Mechanics, 1941, pp1-3; Robinson, 1996, p138)
Ford's prototype car was reported to have ten times the impact resistance of steel, and weighed 1,000lbs less than a comparable steel car (Popular Mechanics, 1941, pp1-3). Now European car makers like BMW are again testing Hemp products, under increasing pressure to meet European Commission criteria for 70 percent of a car's parts to be made from recyclable material by the year 2000 (Reuters, 1996). John Hobson, general manager at Hemcore, is confident. "We see Hemp as partly replacing fibreglass in the door panels and the roof lining" (Reuters, 1996) In 1941 Henry Ford made a car out of Hemp and other composites and bio-plastics that were more resistant to blows from a sledge hammer than other steel cars were.
These composites are less expensive than dangerous fiberglass counterparts. Hemp fiberglass replacements would only cost $10 to $15 a kilo. These Hemp composites could replace carbon and glass fibers, which have environmental and weight problems, and run from 60 cents to $10 dollars a kilo.
Celluloid, the first commercial plastic, introduced in the 1880s, was made from cotton, whilst Bakelite, common in the 1920s, was a plastic derived from wood pulp. Cellophane and rayon, the first plastic film and synthetic fibre respectively, are still made from cellulose derived from trees/ecosytems (Morris & Ahmed, 1995).
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