European hemp industry: Cultivation, processing and product lines

Abstract

Two fibre plants are under cultivation in the European Union -flax on approximately 125,000 ha and hemp on approximately 15,500 ha in the year 2004. Seeds, hurds and especially fibres of hemp are used for further processing. The most important markets for hemp fibres produced in the EU are pulp and paper and the automotive industry. Just under 5% of the EU hemp fibres were used in the construction sector. Approximately 95% the whole production of 40,000 t of the hemp hurds are used as animal bedding and 95% of the estimated 6000 t per year hemp seeds are sold for animal feed, mainly as bird feed.

Thermal degradation of natural and treated hemp hurds under air and nitrogen atmosphere

“…The hurds represent about 60-80% of the stem in hemp. Each produced kilogram of hemp fiber gets as a by-product 1.7 kg of hemp hurds [13]. The hurdsto-fibers ratio varies from 1.5 to more than 2 [14].…”

Inter simple sequence repeats separate efficiently hemp from marijuana (Cannabis sativa L.)

“…Furthermore, with their ratio (n6/n3) being somewhere around 2:1 to 3:1, it resembles traditional Mediterranean diets, where the incidence of coronary heart disease is known to be very low (Callaway, 2004). Hemp seeds oil can also be used for fuel and as raw material for plastics as well as feed for livestock or as a fertilizer (Karus and Vogt, 2004).…”

Phenological growth stages of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.): codification and description according to the BBCH scale

“…3 Hemp reaches more than 50% of the final stem length (growth stages 36-39) in principle growth stages 5 and 6. 4 Principal growth stage 4 is absent in hemp. 5 For female flowers, principal growth stage 5 (budding) is quite difficult to determine; usually it occurs at a similar time as that for male flowers.…”

“…Its fibre can be used for manufacturing of clothes, insulating material, or as a composite material (Karus, Vogt, 2004). Besides, hemp has been suggested by various researchers for the production of briquettes (Mankowski, Kolodziej, 2008), bioethanol (Tutt, Olt, 2011), biogas (Prade et al, 2011) and biodiesel (Rehman et al, 2013).…”