A company called Naturally Advanced Technologies (NAT) has been conducting bulk commercialization trials. The aim of these trials is to determine the potential for mass commercial use of industrial hemp, and the trials are expected to conclude in November. As the press release explains:

Naturally Advanced Technologies Inc., a pioneer in commercializing the use of bast fibers including industrial hemp for use in casual apparel, performance yarns, industrial filters and absorbent pulp and paper products, is conducting bulk commercialization trials with a leading U.S. apparel brand, and one of North America’s largest pulp and paper producers.

The results of these tests are expected to determine the next steps to bring its CRAILAR® Organic Fiber and Advanced Materials technology to market and are expected to be announced by the end of November.

“These trials are a significant milestone in our long-term strategy to commercialize the patented CRAILAR Technology Platform, which we developed in partnership with the National Research Council of Canada and the Alberta Research Council.”

“We are very excited to reach the final stages of the trials and look forward to discussing the results and our preliminary plans to apply this technology on a large commercial scale,” said Ken Barker, CEO of Naturally Advanced Technologies.

CRAILAR technology capitalizes on the superior natural properties of industrial hemp, such as greater tensile strength, thermo regulation properties, anti-microbial, and abrasion resistance.

If NAT can truly process hemp in a sustainable way, this could mean great things for both the hemp industry and the environment. After all, one of the things holding back the hemp industry is the lack of technology to process it en masse. Basically, hemp technology pretty much stopped being developed after the Marijuana Tax Act was passed in 1937. A new development that could springboard hemp production into mainstream commercial use at a rate that can meet modern market demands for textiles, then, could be an event of historical import. Of course, we’ll just have to wait an see.

Check out the original press release here.

An opinion piece on OpEd News points to an interesting paper by Lynn Osburn. Appearing to have been written in 1990, Toward a Green Economy outlines some of major environmental dilemmas caused by our economy, and then explores how industrial hemp might be able to solve them. Here’s an excerpt on how using industrial hemp for paper production can save forests:

About seventy-five years ago two dedicated USDA scientists projected that at the rate the U.S. was using paper we would deplete the forests in our lifetimes. [...] So USDA scientists Dewey and Merrill looked for an alternate agricultural resource for paper products to prevent the disaster we now face.

They found the ideal candidate to be the waste material left in the fields after the hemp harvest. The left over pulp, called hemp hurds, was traditionally burned in the fields when the hemp fiber had been removed after the time consuming retting (partially rotting the hemp stalk to separate the fiber from the hurds) process was completed.

Hemp hurds are richer in cellulose and contain less lignin than wood pulp. Dewey and Merrill found after much experimentation that harsh sulfur acids used to break down the lignin in wood pulp were not necessary when making paper from hemp hurds. Sulfur acid wastes from paper mills are known to be a major source of waterway pollution. The coarse paper they made from hemp hurds was stronger and had greater folding durability than course wood pulp paper. Hemp hurd paper would make better cardboard and paper bag products than wood paper. They found the fine print quality hemp hurd paper to be equal to writing quality wood pulp paper. [ Dewey and Merrill, Bulletin #404, Hemp Hurds As Paper-Making Material, U.S.D.A., Washington, D.C., October 14, 1916.]

The only problem to implementing the paper industry resource change from wood to hemp hurds was machinery to separate hemp fiber from the hurds needed to be developed. Separation was still done by hand after the machine breaks had softened the hemp stalks.

The paper seems focused on how forests need to be protected because emissions aren’t going to go away. Of course, hemp has quite a few uses that can help us cut down on emissions, such as biofuel and replacing a slew of other synthetic products that cause emission when manufactured. Mind you, Toward a Green Economy was written nearly two decades ago, so many of the advances in hemp processing that we have today had not yet been made.