Location: Sustainable Water Management Research
Project Number: 6066-13000-006-035-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2023
End Date: Sep 30, 2028
Objective:
Economic development for Northwest American Indian tribes using hemp-based materials, technology, and commerce as drivers. The nascent domestic hemp industry provides an opportunity to create value-added biobased materials and products. Great opportunity exists to develop biobased materials and products with significant functional properties. In order to establish a hemp industry the fiber, hurd, and other hemp co-products must be characterized and classifications developed. Development of characterization techniques will enable manufacturers to select the appropriate raw materials for specific manufacturing processes. Using industry informed parameters to establish hemp material classifications, similar to the US cotton program classification system will provide a system to establish economic value of hemp materials and create a level playing field.
Approach:
This research will be conducted in two phases consisting of a period of development of material characterization techniques followed by a period of routine processing and phenotyping samples.
Bast fiber and hurd will be characterized for length, length distribution, fineness, tensile properties, color, moisture, and non-fiber content. Standard and modified cotton fiber testing equipment will be utilized to conduct the phenotyping.
Phenotype information from the hemp fiber will be combined by other investigators with genotype data to allow the genotype-phenotype relationship of hemp to be investigated.
