Production of biofuels and bioproducts from agricultural biomass can potentially mitigate climate change caused by the processing of fossil fuels. In addition, biomass is renewable, abundant, and cost-effective. Among plant biomass, industrial hemp is a fast-growing and low-maintenance crop. Hemp hurd is the soft inner core of the stalks and stems. After harvesting the bast fibers, the hurd is considered either as a biomass waste or used in low-value applications, such as garden mulch, lightweight paperboard, and acoustical tiles. The increase in hemp cultivation and the discovery of hemp-derived products will make available large amounts of hemp hurd. The ability to use hemp hurd in high-value applications will bring benefits to hemp farmers and promote a sustainable society. We developed a combined chem-bio catalytic strategy to convert hemp hurd into high-value medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHAs) using an ambient temperature alkali process. The mcl-PHAs are biodegradable polymers with the potential to replace petroleum-derived polypropylene. Our resulting mcl-PHAs consisted of 3-hydroxy-hexanoate (C6), 3-hydroxy-octanoate (C8), 3-hydroxy-decanoate (C10), and 3-hydroxy-dodecanoate (C12) monomers. This talk will detail the processing parameters to release sugars in high yield at ambient conditions and result in 0.61 g mcl-PHAs/L. We will also discuss our future works and perspectives on the use of mcl-PHAs for a circular bioeconomy.

Catalytic production of biodegradable polymers from hemp hurd for a circular bioeconomy

ACS Spring 2022

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