Hemp Biomass: What in the world is it?

Source: cannabizdaily.co

It turns out that hemp not only gives us medical and recreational cannabis products, but it also gives us bio-fuel.

According to research, hemp can be one of the bio-fuels of the future.

What is biomass?

Recent developments related to hemp production have shown that hemp can be used as an additive to food products like breads, pasta, milk, and cake mixes. But it doesn’t stop there. Hemp has also been found to be a good source of fuel.

Hemp is regarded valuable to the energy sector because its by-products can provide alternative fuels.

Hemp specifically falls under a fuel classification that is called biomass. Biomass is a term for the organic matter that can be converted into and used as fuel, and is thus considered as a potential renewable energy source.

Researchers and scientists have used hemp to produce biofuel and industrial oil.

Hemp biomass is great for farmers

Australian hemp advocate Klara Marosszeky said that growing hemp is a great sustainable alternative for small farmers. Not to mention that it is also great for the environment.

According to her, biomass produced by hemp is equivalent to the same area of forest per year, but it is produced in a four-month growth period.

How is bio-fuel created from hemp?

Hemp biomass is processed into fuel through biological digestion or chemical decomposition.

The waste from hemp cannabis plant is taken and is transformed into a carbon nanomaterial. This carbon nanomaterial can be used as substitute for the more expensive graphene, which is a nanomaterial that is used in high-power super capacitors and batteries. Super capacitors are used in the fast-charging batteries for electronics like laptops, smartphones, and vehicle braking systems.

Sustainability

Compared to many other annual crops, hemp requires less pesticide and herbicide application. Hemp is also an amazing alternative rotation crop as it preserves and replenishes the soil’s nitrates. Moreover, when hemp is grown on a large scale, it will strike a balance in carbon dioxide emissions as the hemp plant breathes carbon dioxide and it will also emit equal amounts of it when it is burned as a fuel.

You can employ the process of pyrolysis, which is a refining technique in which heat is applied to the plant to convert it to fuel oil, in current fossil fuel oil refining facilities with the use of similar technology. However, for pyrolysis to be cost-effective, facilities need to be located within 50 miles of the crop field.