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Industrial Hemp in Austria
Abstract
Although Austria's history of industrial hemp is very similar to that of other countries, there are some peculiarities, like the huge number of place-names called after the plant or the fact that its cultivation has never been prohibited. Austrian hemp products include isolation pads, food, cosmetics, and beer. A remarkable invention is the so called Hempstone, a material solely consisting of hemp and water, serving as raw material for a wide range of products like furniture, music instruments or jewellery. Furthermore, Austria is the first European country to produce hemp milk out of hemp seed. Nevertheless commercialisation and access to the products should be improved, as Austria is the only German speaking nation without its own hemp fair.
... production of building material (e.g. for insulation), textiles and fibre boards. (Atkinson, 2011;Eurostat, 2011;Rolandsson, 2011;Defra, 2009;FAO, 2009;Agreste, 2007;ADAS, 2005;Greslehner, 2005;Karus & Vogt, 2004;Müssig & Martens, 2003;Dreyer et al., 2002;Mediavilla et al., 1999). The figure given for China is only an estimate (FAO, 2009). ...
Bioenergy is currently the fastest growing source of renewable energy. Tighter sustainability criteria for the production of vehicle biofuels and an increasing interest in combined heat and power (CHP) production from biomass have led to a demand for high-yielding energy crops with good conversion efficiencies.
Industrial hemp was studied as an energy crop for production of biogas and solid biofuel. Based on field trials, the development of biomass and energy yield, the specific methane yield and elemental composition of the biomass were studied over the growing and senescence period of the crop, i.e. from autumn to the following spring.
The energy yield of hemp for both solid biofuel and biogas production proved similar or superior to that of most energy crops common in northern Europe. The high energy yield of biogas from hemp is based on a high biomass yield per hectare and good specific methane yield with large potential for increases by pretreatment of the biomass. The methane energy yield per hectare is highest in autumn when hemp biomass yield is highest.
The energy yield per hectare of hemp for use as a solid biofuel is highest in autumn when the biomass yield is highest. However, important combustion-related fuel properties, such as moisture, alkali, chlorine and ash content and ash melting temperature, are significantly improved when industrial hemp is harvested in spring instead of in autumn. Major fuel properties of hemp are not significantly influenced by annual cultivation conditions, latitude or choice of cultivar.
Net energy yields per hectare and energy output-to-input ratios of hemp are above-average in most applications, and are highest for use of hemp as solid biofuel. Use of hemp as a biogas substrate suffers from higher energy inputs and lower conversion efficiencies, but produces a high-quality vehicle fuel.
Advantages over other energy crops are also found outside the energy balance, e.g. low pesticide requirements, good weed competition and suitability as break crop in cereal-oriented crop rotations. Improvements in hemp biomass and energy yields may strengthen its competitive position against maize and sugar beet for biogas production and against perennial energy crops for solid biofuel production.
Hemp is used for a wide variety of products, from cannabidiol oil to food, furniture, textiles, construction materials, or even animal bedding. The growing need for sustainable materials and the comeback of hemp made many companies interested in the fast-growing crop. Hence, many new hemp products are being introduced to the market. Some of the most promising innovative hemp products are hemp biofuel, medicine, cosmetics, acoustic panels, and soil contamination treatments. The current uses and opportunities of these hemp products in current, promising, and innovative industries will be further discussed in this chapter. The bottlenecks in material durability, costs, and the need for specialised machines need to be tackled to stimulate hemp growth even further.
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