The hemp-derived fiber market is growing exponentially. The Business Research Company, a global market research and consulting firm located across the globe, updated its reports with latest data on hemp fiber for 2024 and projections up to 2033, and the projections look promising.

The Business Research Company’s “Hemp Fiber Global Market Report 2024” was published on March 8 and provides a comprehensive source of information that covers every facet of the market. According to the TBRC’s market forecast, the hemp fiber market size is predicted to reach $50.38 billion in 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.0%.

The growth in the hemp fiber market is due to increasing legalization to cultivate industrial hemp. Asia-Pacific region is expected to hold the largest hemp fiber market share. Major players in the hemp fiber market include Shenyang beijiang, BaFa Holding BV, Plains Industrial Hemp Processing Ltd., Industrial Hemp Manufacturing LLC, Hemp Oil Canada Inc.

“Hemp fiber refers to one of the robust members of the family of strong natural fibers, which are generated from the cannabis family’s hemp plant,” the report reads. “The plant’s stem is made up of long strands that are used to make hemp fabric. By using a technique called retting, these fibers are extracted from the bark and then spun together to produce a continuous thread that can be woven into textiles.”

The report also identifies what parts of the plant are typically used in the hemp fiber process.

“The main types of hemp fiber are long (bast) fibers, and short (core) fibers. The long (bast) hemp fiber market refers to the soft woody fiber obtained from the stems of dicotyledonous plants and is used for textiles and cordage, the report continues. “The different sources include organic and conventional, and are used in food, beverages, personal care products, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and other applications.”

Researchers divided hemp fiber market segments by the following parameters:

• By Type: Long (bast) Fibers, Short (core) Fibers
• By Source: Organic, Conventional
• By Application: Food, Beverages, Personal Care Products, Textiles, Pharmaceuticals, Other Applications
• By Geography: The global hemp fiber market is segmented into North America, South America, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The market report includes Hemp Fiber Market Characteristic, Hemp Fiber Market Trends And Strategies, Hemp Fiber Market – Macro Economic Scenario, Hemp Fiber Market Size And Growth, Hemp Fiber Market Competitor Landscape And Company Profiles, Key Mergers And Acquisitions In The Market, and many other topics.

Industrial Hemp Uses

Every day, people are finding more uses for industrial hemp. (Just refer to the works of Jack Herer, the “Emperor of Hemp.” Architects, for instance, are increasingly relying on hemp as a cleaner, more efficient replacement for traditional home construction materials. 

A recently published article by The Cool Down (“America’s mainstream climate brand”) detailed how hemp can be “transformed into a material called hempcrete.”

“Hempcrete is a carbon-negative building material made out of hemp, which is increasingly being used in place of concrete. The biocomposite material is created from hemp shiv—the woody core of hemp stalks—and mixed with a binder, such as lime powder, and water,” according to the article. “The result is a tough, adaptable material that can be mixed with varying proportions of hemp and lime depending on its intended purpose.

Hemp is constantly proving to be useful in making other materials and products. A Wisconsin-based hemp battery manufacturing company, for instance, created a goal to hire former employees of Energizer.

Portage, Wisconsin-based Wisconsin Battery Co. (WinBat) makes batteries out of hemp instead of graphene, for use in devices like hearing aids. Earlier this month, WinBat announced that it has acquired 17 acres of land in the Portage Industrial Park to develop its battery plant, a According to a Dec. 21, 2023 press release,

Last October, a variety of hemp plant genetically modified to produce little-to-no THC was approved by the United States Department of Agriculture as safe to grow and breed on U.S. soil. 

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) released a notice about the plants last week, created and submitted by Indiana-based Growing Together Research, a biotechnology company specializing in cannabis, hemp, psychedelics and agriculture. APHIS regulates the “movement of organisms modified or produced through genetic engineering.”

“APHIS found this modified hemp is unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk compared to other cultivated hemp,” the USDA notice said. “As a result, it is not subject to regulation under 7 CFR part 340. From a plant pest risk perspective, this hemp may be safely grown and bred in the United States.”

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A hemp-based battery manufacturing company is coming to a town in Wisconsin with a goal to hire former employees of Energizer.

Portage, Wisconsin-based Wisconsin Battery Co. (WinBat) makes batteries out of hemp instead of graphene, for use in devices like hearing aids. Earlier this month, WinBat announced that it has acquired 17 acres of land in the Portage Industrial Park to develop its battery plant. According to a Dec. 21 press release, development will focus on:

• Industrial batteries: Creating energy storage solutions that enhance the efficiency and reliability of solar and wind power systems and maximize efficiency of connections to the grid.
• Hemp carbon batteries: Innovating a sustainable alternative to lithium-ion batteries by utilizing hemp carbon as a key component. These batteries will offer improved energy density, longer lifespan, reduced environmental impact, and utilize domestically produced raw material thus addressing the national security risks associated with global lithium sourcing.

WinBat CEO Jeff Greene said Portage will serve as an ideal place to build a new renewable energy battery power plant, given the skill set that former Energizer employees already possess.

“Obviously having 400 to 500 trained employees that are knowledgeable in the battery makes that area seemed right for a new battery company,” Greene told WMTV. “Most of the folks we’ve talked to, cautious optimism is kind of where we’ve gotten them to. They had fear and I think we’ve turned that fear into cautious optimism.”

The Wisconsin Battery Co. is a research, development and manufacturing company owned by the Sustainable Communities Corp., which is dedicated to advancing energy storage solutions that contribute to a more sustainable and clean future.

Greene said he got the idea when he was lobbying for a Florida-based hemp company that asked him to find the top five ways in which hemp fiber could be best used. “The people (in Portage) have been fantastic,” he said. “We have asked and received tremendous support from the people helping us. I am very blessed that the response has been so exciting.”

Gaining Local Support in Portage

The company gained local support. The City of Portage supports the goal to move forward with the plan. At a Dec. 7 Common Council meeting, city officials gave Greene 90 days to come up with a building plan.

Portage Mayor Mitchel Craig is cautiously optimistic, after Energizer decided to leave Wisc

“This is going to be huge for the city of Portage,” Craig said of the new plant that’s planned to open in the city. “The Energizer plant employed 225 people, and it is projected that within six years they will have 600 people working at this new facility.”

Wisconsin Battery Co. will focus development on the production of hemp carbon batteries as a sustainable alternative to lithium-ion batteries as well as the production of industrial batteries, which make energy storage solutions for solar and wind power systems more efficient and reliable.

The company plans to grow and hire 600 employees within the first six years of operation. Their goal is to start where Energizer left off, creating batteries to be used in hearing aids. The long-term goal is to produce two innovative batteries that will offer improved energy density, longer lifespans, and reduced carbon footprint.

More information will become available in the upcoming months. Greene and Mayor Craig will hold a press conference at 2 p.m. on Jan. 9, 2024, in Portage, where they plan to share more information about the project.

The company is focusing operations in Portage now, but will consider building another plant in Fennimore, where Energizer is also closing down another manufacturing plant.

Why Hemp for Batteries?

“Nothing outlasts the Energizer,” but hemp may do exactly that: Hemp advocates say that hemp batteries last eight times longer than lithium batteries, outperforming graphene for a fraction of the cost. Battery makers process hemp’s woody pulp, formint it into carbon nanosheets, which they used to build supercapacitors that behave better than graphene, the industry gold standard

Much of the energy used to extract and process battery components like lithium comes from CO₂-emitting fossil fuels.

The “Hemperor” has been telling us about these benefits all along, which also apply to the manufacturing of batteries. “Government and oil and coal companies, etc., will insist that burning biomass fuel is no better than using up our fossil fuel reserves, as far as pollution goes; but this is patently untrue,” Jack Herer wrote in The Emperor Wears No Clothes, citing several sources.

“Why? Because, unlike fossil fuel, biomass comes from living (not extinct) plants that continue to remove carbon dioxide pollution from our atmosphere as they grow, through photosynthesis. Furthermore, biomass fuels do not contain sulfur. This can be accomplished if hemp is grown for biomass and then converted through pyrolysis (charcoalizing) or biochemical composting into fuels to replace fossil fuel energy products.”

Replacing graphene for use in batteries is just another way hemp can be used for more sustainable energy. 

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