In Michigan, Chemovator, the business incubator and early-stage investor of BASF, has finalized an undisclosed investment in Heartland, a startup developing natural fiber plastic additives. Heartland’s hemp-based materials can be used as additives within plastic compounds. The innovation improves properties with regard to flammability, bonding, dispersion, and bulk density, which are historically associated with processing […]
In Texas, Panda Biotech announced that commercial operations have officially begun at the Panda Hemp Gin, their landmark industrial hemp processing facility in Wichita Falls, Texas. The 500,000-square-foot building situated on 97 acres is the first of its kind and the largest in the Western Hemisphere, with the capacity to process 10 metric tons of […]
In Oregon, the Global Hemp Innovation Center at Oregon State University has won a $10 million grant to develop hemp-based supply chains and equip students from 13 Native American tribes for bioeconomy jobs. The grant will be used to establish regional business networks, provide education opportunities for tribal communities, present hemp economic development opportunities to […]
In Germany, Fuse GmbH has won the JEC Composites Innovation Award for a hemp-based material it co-developed and is using to produce snowboards. The “hemp tape” is processed into reinforcement textiles using Karl Mayer Technische Textilien GmbH’s COP MAX 5 multiaxial warp knitting machine and then impregnated with biobased resin. A follow-on project dubbed HempSki […]
In Switzerland, ETH Zurich researchers can now reveal the most effective renovation strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions: replace fossil- fuel heating systems and harness the potential of bio- based building materials like straw and hemp. They developed a model that uses AI to calculate greenhouse gas emissions and costs and also takes into account […]
In Finland, Chempolis Oy has been chosen as technology provider for NordFuel’s biorefinery, which is planned to be established in Haapavesi, Finland. With the technology license, Chempolis brings to the collaboration its extensive know-how of producing bioproducts and of their valorization into industrial chemicals and materials. NordFuel’s biorefinery will produce value-added products from sawmill and […]
In the UK, dezeen reported that Design duo Foersom & Hiort-Lorenzen has worked with furniture brand Norman Copenhagen on a collection of plant-based chairs. The Mat collection features two chairs; one is made from hemp – a type of cannabis plant, and the other combines this material with eelgrass, a marine plant similar to seaweed. […]
In Jerome, Idaho, a sustainable construction materials company has successfully scaled hemp-based home insulation. Over 1,800 investors and grants funded Hempitecture’s 33,000-square-foot facility, which manufactures the company’s HempWool thermal insulation. “We are thrilled to celebrate this monumental milestone that symbolizes the immense amount of work put into the brand’s facility from concept to completion,” Mattie […]
In Maryland, sports apparel firm Under Armour has signed a hemp sourcing deal with Ecofibre subsidiary Hemp Black worth over $6 million. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding for Hemp Black to be the exclusive supplier of biobased yarns for three years. According to Just-Style, Under Armor is also investing $4.5 million in […]
In Sweden, a Horizon Europe project led by Stockholm University and supported by the EU-call Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking is exploring the use of diverse plants to produce biobased fibers. The Bio-LUSH Project is evaluating underutilized feedstocks such as hemp hurd, forest residues, nettle, and seagrasses to avoid competition with food production. The group […]
