MULTIHEMP

MULTIpurpose plant hemp: recovery of biomass, lignin and platform chemicals for the production of biopolymer materials

Duration

01.12.2021-30.11.2023

A sustainable bioeconomy can help to solve the complex challenges associated with this transformation, especially at the level of raw material demand and use. Hemp is a prime example of a "multipurpose plant" to aim for closed cycles and decouple economic growth from resource consumption. It is ideally suited for a sustainable circular economy in the context of the bioeconomy due to its versatility and the possibility to use the whole plant (grains, leaves, flowers, stems, roots). Hemp has been cultivated for centuries in Germany for fiber, food, oil extraction, and as a medicinal product. Interest in hemp for a range of industrial applications has increased in recent years due to the superior quality of its fibers in a number of industrial applications. In addition to fiber, hemp also provides high-quality seeds and phytocannabinoids with developing markets for oils and vegetable proteins. These processes generate a number of by-products that have not been recycled to date.
Within MULITHEMP, hemp and by-products of hemp fiber production will therefore be used as feedstock in the context of a biorefinery. The project goal includes an agricultural biorefinery that converts locally produced biomass into platform chemicals, lignin, cellulose, phytocannabinoids, oils and proteins, demonstrating the full-scale utilization of the hemp plant. Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), furfural (Fu) and lignin can be produced from the lignocellulosic material obtained. HMF can be used to produce polyesters such as PEF (polyethylene dicarboxyfuranoate) for packaging or fibers. HMF itself, like Fu, can serve as a substitute for formaldehyde in resins such as particle board, polyamides such as nylon 6 and nylon 6,6, or as an additive in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Lignin can be added to resins as a filler, or can be cleaved to phenols to become components of resins themselves. Another application is the conversion to high-grade carbon materials for electrodes and supercapacitors.