Technology
Background
Industrial hemp dates back to the early colonial days in America. It was one of the first crops grown by English colonists in Jamestown, Virginia as early as 1611. Colonists used it to make rope, sails, clothing and paper. The Government even encouraged some colonies to grow hemp due to its economic importance.
Important figures like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp on their plantations. Encouraged by early governments, hemp thrived in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly in Kentucky, Missouri and other states, before declining due to competition from cotton and labor challenges. Imported fibers began to reduce hemp’s importance.
In the 20th century, industrial hemp was criminalized alongside marijuana under the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, though briefly revived during World War II through the “Hemp for Victory” campaign. After decades of prohibition, hemp re-emerged in the 21st century with the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills, which legalized its cultivation and spurred a growing industry focused on textiles, food, wellness products, and sustainable materials.
Technology that Grows
Thanks to significant investment in research and development since its legalization, the spectrum of possibilities for using hemp hurd and/or hemp fiber y expanding rapidity. Strong, lightweight and naturally durable, hemp hurd and hemp fiber are being engineered today into applications that range from soft textiles to high-performance industrial composites. Through advanced processing technologies that include high-throughput decortication, enzymatic softening and enhanced fiber-blending techniques, hemp hurd and fiber can now be used at scale to make sustainable apparel, high-R-value construction block, mycelium-based structural composites, cars, sports equipment, bioplastics, biofuel, batteries and many other products. With applications like hempcrete, nano-cellulose composites, and proven biodegradable plastics and packaging, this ancient crop is fueling the future of climate-smart design.
BIOPHIL collaborates with manufacturers, materials innovators, regenerative farmers, research scientists, product designers, and sustainability leaders across many sectors. Our facility is setup to produce both B2B products such as a hemp-cotton yarn blend and direct-to-consumer products such as 30-pound bags of animal bedding. Some of our B2B products currently in development include non-woven mats for commercial and industrial applications, lignocellulosic pulp, degummed fiber yarn, sustainable cardboard, fire-retardant OSB, and bioplastic pellets for injection molding. Our production model (which is both vertically-integrated AND regionally-focused) helps us ensure product performance, traceability and measurable environmental impact.
Whether you’re a buyer interested in sustainable sourcing or an innovator looking to make something new or something better, we invite you to partner with us in our aim to make sustainability the norm, not the niche. Our development partners can harness our knowledge base, network, training programs and R&D efforts to learn how our natural fibers can be incorporated into their product designs or manufacturing processes.
