Grant: Alliance Grants

The overall goal of the partnership with the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance (CHTA) is to develop technical guidelines for performing affordable holistic hemp hurd and fibre characterization to support hemp-based construction materials products' commercialization and standards emerging in Canada and internationally (e.g., ASTM). Currently, there are no standard methods for assessing the purity of hemp hurd and bast fibre in Canada. Therefore, the proposed project will fill this knowledge gap by laying the foundations for developing standard tests to classify hemp fibre and hurd products for construction material and other uses. After the project's completion, the partner organization CHTA will advance the results in Canada by developing National technical guidelines for hemp growers and producers across Canada necessary for supplying consistent quality products to the construction and other industries that use hemp-based materials. Furthermore, the outcomes from this research will be utilized to develop relevant standards for testing the purity of hemp products. The proposed project represents the first step towards manufacturing low-carbon building components with consistent quality and performance in Canada. Consequently, it directly supports the Canadian government's 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, where zero-carbon buildings are one of the major priorities.