ADDITIVES | NATURAL FIBRES AND FILLERS


hemp acreage that Heartland plans to source from is in Michigan, where the company has a lab-scale facility and is building a commercial-scale plant. In the future, it plans to expand to other parts of the US. Hemp was highly regulated in the US until 2018. Hemp farming is now starting up and is typically added to a crop rotation, where it grows quickly (in a 90-day cycle) and doesn’t take away from land used for food, Ely says.


Above: Heartland is working with BASF and Magna in the Go Move 2022 automotive decarbonisa- tion pro- gramme at climate tech incubator Greentown Labs


of glass fibre or the amount of polymer resin. Tests with different loadings are underway, and initial results are promising, according to Ely. In March of this year, Heartland was also selected to be a member of the Gener8tor program at 1915 Studios, a direct development partnership with Georgia Pacific corporation. This programme is designed to lower the carbon footprint of papers, corrugated materials, and plastics. Heartland last year sponsored a third-party lifecycle analysis (LCA) of its hemp additive from cradle to gate completed. Ely says it found that in a 20% loading, a kilogram of Imperium filler seques- ters 2.8kg of carbon dioxide equivalents, making it nearly 3:1 carbon negative. The company is now testing a carbon-footprint estimator on its website that allows customers to input material types, amounts and logistics to obtain a customised carbon impact report. “We’re finding that customers who are selling into Europe, in particular, are requesting this type of data, and it’s only a matter of time until companies here in the US follow that trend” he says. Transportation is a significant factor in carbon


footprint. “Hemp can grow almost anywhere, and ideally we want to have farms within 200 miles of our processing plants,” says Ely. Currently, most of the


Heartland’’s Imperium hemp-fibre is available as a filler,


masterbatch, or finished compound


Natural selection During the past year, the Norwegian research organisation RISE PFI has been prototyping new biocomposite products for infrastructure and building elements using 3D printing, injection moulding and extrusion. “One important aspect in the development of biocomposites is the selection of the optimal biocomponent for the application and wood fibres have demonstrated good proper- ties for biocomposite products,” says Gary Chinga Carrasco, Lead Scientist for the Biopolymers and Biocomposites area within the organisation. Wood fibres that can be used in biocomposites include thermo-mechanical pulp (TMP) fibres and kraft pulp fibres. “TMP fibres can be used directly in thermoplastic biocomposites, while kraft pulp fibres have proven to be an excellent source for production of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF),” says Chinga Carrasco. CNF is promising when it comes to reinforce- ment ability in thermoplastics. However, there are still challenges to overcome, such as drying the CNF without causing agglomeration as well as the dispersibility of the CNF in the polymer matrix. RISE PFI claims to be making advances in compounding CNF with polyolefins. “The com- pounding strategy we are exploring focuses on avoiding agglomeration and securing good CNF dispersibility in the thermoplastic polymer. We are also exploring the manufacturing of lignin-contain- ing CNF as this may have additional advantages regarding biocomposites,” explains Chinga


RAW MATERIALS


Source: Heartland Industries


54


Imperium Filler Engineered hemp fibre powders


COMPOUNDING WORLD | May 2023


Imperium Masterbatch Functionalised hemp fibre pellets


Imperium Resin Hemp-filled plastic for injection moulding


www.compoundingworld.com


IMAGE: GREENTOWN LABS


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