{"id":516,"date":"2021-03-29T13:00:41","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T13:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloomnews.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=516"},"modified":"2025-11-12T20:35:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T20:35:03","slug":"the-energy-potential-of-industrial-hemp-biofuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.bloommarijuana.com\/news\/the-energy-potential-of-industrial-hemp-biofuels\/","title":{"rendered":"The Energy Potential Of Industrial Hemp Biofuels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Now that the effects of fossil fuel use are known to be causing serious climate damage, it is incredibly important for all governments to switch to renewable energy sources. Industrial hemp may just be the solution to saving the planet. In this article I will describe all the different types of hemp biofuel, give some facts about biodiesel, discuss how hemp biofuel compares to other sources and cite a study about hemp biodiesel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hemp seeds contain around 30% oil which can be transformed into biodiesel for vehicles, using transesterification. That is a process where reactants are mixed together; fatty acids, alcohol and a catalyst such as sodium or potassium methanolate. The end result is raw biodiesel and raw glycerol which then undergo a cleaning process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FYI: regular diesel has a flashpoint of 125\u00b0F which makes the transportation of biodiesel much safer<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ethanol is derived from sugars and starches of plants. In order to create hemp ethanol, a process called cellulolysis is required. This involves several stages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also known as wood alcohol, it is produced from the woody, pulp plant material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hemp pellets are made from the woody core of the plant, known as the shiv or hurd. They are an excellent alternative to wood since they produce similar amounts of heat and ash content but are not corrosive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Methane, the major ingredient of natural gas and close relative of methanol, is produced by the use of a biodigester to capture the gas under optimum anaerobic conditions to create hemp biogas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Claims have been made suggesting that hemp biofuels are carbon-neutral; the amount of CO2 absorbed during the growing process is offset by the amount of CO2 released during use. It is important to consider all that is involved in creating the fuel from cultivation to harvest to fuel production. All these processes must be carbon neutral in order to substantiate such a claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers do acknowledge that less input is required to grow hemp, in general, when compared to crops such as corn and soybeans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a 2010 study conducted at the University of Connecticut, researchers determined that industrial hemp made a viable and desirable raw material for the production of biodiesel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Head researcher, Richard Parnas, professor of chemical, materials and biomolecular engineering at UConn, led the study. This finding is very important in identifying hemp as a plant that is not food, does not require high-quality land but can produce high-quality biodiesel fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parnas worked with James Stuart, Department of Chemistry, and graduate student Si-Yu Li, Department of Plant Sciences. They used virgin hemp seed oil to create biodiesel via transesterification. Here are their findings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us hope that living through this pandemic will make us humans reconsider our prior dependence on fossil fuels in favor of a renewable energy source such as hemp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources: Now that the effects of fossil fuel use are known to be causing serious climate damage, it is incredibly important for all governments to switch to renewable energy sources. Industrial hemp may just be the solution to saving the planet. In this article I will describe all the different types of hemp biofuel, give some … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/strong>hempgazette.com, Industrial Hemp\u2019s Energy Potential-Biofuels
sciencedirect.com, Anaerobic Digestion of Industrial Hemp-Effect of Harvest Time on Methane Energy Yield Per Hectare
medium.com, Hemp Biofuel: No Green Deal Without It, DarbyHemp, April 19, 2019
today.uconn.edu, Hemp Produces Viable Biodiesel, UConn Study Finds, Christine Buckley, Oct. 6, 2010<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"