UNCC researchers create a formula for recycling old bottles into new building materials

By Amber Veverka
Special Correspondent

A UNC Charlotte researcher with a passion for sustainability is creating a new building material out of recycled plastic bottles and an ancient grass.

Dr. Na Lu, an assistant professor at UNCC’s Department of Engineering Technology, has created a material she believes may outperform composite lumber and wood lumber in many uses, and which has potential to be used in the residential and light commercial building industry.

In her lab at UNCC, Luna, as she prefers to be called, holds a dog bone-shaped sample of her creation: a beige plastic woven with threads of what looks like horsehair. “Hemp,” Luna says, and points to a fluffy pile of the fibers on the table.

Unlike much present-day composite lumber, Luna’s product substitutes hemp fibers for more typical chipped wood often mixed with virgin plastic. And unlike pressure-treated wood, the hemp material contains no toxic heavy metals.

Wood fiber is structured like a bundle of straws, she said, but hemp’s crystalline structure gives it greater mechanical strength. She demonstrates by holding out a handful of hemp fibers to pull.

“This (hemp composite) material performs up to 4,000 to 6,000 psi (pounds per square inch),” Luna said. “That’s as strong as medium-strength concrete.”

At the same time, the hemp-recycled plastic material is lighter than regular composite lumber, she said.

Hemp may be a promising building material, but the stuff Luna uses isn’t going to get anyone arrested. It’s industrial hemp, with an extremely low content of THC, the psychoactive substance for which marijuana is known.

Hemp is just one key to the new material; the other is recycled plastic bottles. In the United States, about 20 billion plastic bottles are used annually, and just 18 percent of those get recycled, Luna said. “The niche of what we do here is … we used HDPE recycled plastic, as opposed to resin epoxy,” she said.

Where things get wet

Unlike regular lumber, the experimental material is moisture- and insect-resistant, and hemp grows a lot faster than wood. Hemp fiber polymers are being used in the automotive industry in Europe for car interiors, Luna said, but she sees a future for the material in buildings, particularly in places where wood rot is a problem.

“The first application I really would like to see is any point where there is water contact in a civil application – a retaining wall, decking, bridges,” she said.

While it would cost more to produce the material today than it does to produce wood lumber, the life cycle cost would be cheaper and, over time, with a greater scale of production, she believes the cost to the consumer would fall.

For Luna, an interest in accomplishing conventional goals through unconventional means came early. Born in China, she said she saw firsthand the difficulty of a heavily populated nation struggling with high energy costs. After moving to the States, Luna earned her doctorate from Clemson University. In the process, she worked with a professor in Arizona in constructing a school from straw bales coated with cement.

Testing, testing

To prepare hemp composite samples for testing, Luna and her student assistant, John Larson, first extrude pellets of recycled plastic. Larson, a rising sophomore from Stanley majoring in construction management, treats the hemp fiber to remove its oil and odor. He points out a tensile testing machine used to pull the fibers and take pictures with a high-speed camera of how the material reacts and deforms in each moment.

Larson and Luna sandwich the strands between layers of plastic, and test the finished sample under a static load and a dynamic load (a moving load, such as that produced by wind or water) for changes in strength at various temperatures and humidity levels.

“We tried chopping them up,” Larson said of one of many experiments with the fibers. That didn’t prove strong enough, so now they’re turning out samples with longer hemp strands.

“It’s tedious,” Luna said of the yearlong process of trial and error. “But once you see the material improve … you love it.”

Listening to Mother Nature

In designing materials for building, it makes sense to take cues from nature, Luna said. “Mother Nature is much smarter than us,” she said. “I really respect nature and how things are designed.”

In the lab, Luna and Larson demonstrate the testing of a sample of the hemp composite. The “dog bone” slides into a vise-like apparatus on a strength-testing machine and, as Luna watches a glowing computer screen, the machine pulls the sample until at last it snaps, at 5,692 psi.

“Wow!” Luna says, surprised. Larson peers at the computer with her and they marvel at the test results, which were achieved at 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 35 percent humidity – variables, Luna says, which are important because a material’s performance changes with moisture and heat.

The next challenge will be making the material more fireproof. But already a lumber company and an architectural firm have expressed interest in it, Luna said.

In addition to exploring hemp and recycled plastic as a lumber substitute, Luna is looking at combining recycled plastic with bamboo fibers. She’s also working on a new class of thermoelectric materials to harvest waste heat energy and convert it into electrical energy without moving parts.

This article was published this morning at MNDaily.com which is The Minnesota Daily news blog.
The study contains encouraging news for the future of Hemp, Hemp Foods, and Hemp Clothing products in America.

We’re excited about this.

University research demonstrates the irrationality of U.S. pot policy.

PUBLISHED: 09/17/2009

EDITORIAL BOARD

Scientists in the College of Biological Sciences have identified the genes in Cannabis sativa responsible for the production of psychoactive chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Cannabis can be used for both industrial hemp and marijuana production, although the appearance and chemical composition vary similar to the difference between dog breeds. This research is a clear reminder of the folly of America’s ill-conceived marijuana policy; where worries about individual recreational use has spilled over onto the unrelated issue of hemp cultivation. Current industrial hemp varieties have THC levels at or below 0.3%, while the average THC content of marijuana is above 10% and can surpass 30%. Fearing this trace amount of THC, scientists hope to apply this research to genetically engineer a fully-THC free plant.

Hemp was once a widespread crop throughout the upper Midwest. Its long, strong fibers were used to make cloth, paper, and rope while the oil in the seeds was important in food and cosmetics . The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 banned hemp production , fearing cultivation could mask the growth of marijuana. But no industrial farmer would risk the quality of hemp fiber or seed oil by cross-planting marijuana.

Despite the domestic ban, hemp production has continued abroad and hemp-based products are increasingly imported. Furthermore, hemp’s rapid growth and woody interior make it a leading candidate to replace flawed corn-based ethanol as a renewable fuel. The University’s research did not make hemp plants more productive, demonstrate new uses, or find techniques for converting hemp into bio-fuel. The perceived necessity of removing the minimal amount of THC in hemp is solely based on an irrational fear of marijuana.

Click HERE to browse through this and other stories over at MNDaily.com

Posted By: Jane Wells

CNBC – View original article on Hemp

What if Americans could buy cigarettes but were banned from growing tobacco? Buy bread but not allowed to grow wheat? That is the case with industrial hemp, a product in everything from car doors to milk…legally.

Hemp farming was banned in the U.S. decades ago as part of the earliest drug wars. Hemp contains THC, like marijuana. But hemp is not marijuana. “It’s like a Chihuahua versus a Saint Bernard,” says David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, which sold $29 million in hemp-related products last year. The THC in industrial hemp is so minute that “the only thing you will get from smoking it is a headache,” says Gregg Baumbaugh, CEO of FlexForm Technologies, which uses hemp in car doors for Dodge Vipers. Both companies import their hemp from Canada or France, adding 10 to 15 percent to costs.

>> Continue reading on CNBC

America’s leading organic hemp foods brand is excited to introduce it’s latest new offering to hemp food nutrition.

Nutiva Organic Hemp Protein 50% contains 50% protein, 20% fiber, and 11% fat- including Omega-3, GLA and SDA. These rare fats play a vital role in our brain, heart, skin, and hormone functions.

Health Ranger Mike Adams just gave our 50% Hemp Protein a resounding positive review listed at the end of this article.

Nutiva’s  Hemp Protein 50% is fantastic for athletes and smoothie-lovers who want higher protein and superior flavor. We simply sift out  much of the fiber to boost the protein content to 50%, yielding a  sweet, smooth , and yummy powder. It’s so delicious many of our customers report they love to eat it off the spoon!

Both products offer Hemp’s superior 66% edistin and 33% albumin-  protein structure. Hemp protein powder also contains large amounts of  zinc, iron, and magnesium. Hemp’s fiber is 90% insoluble and 10% soluable.  Nutiva offer’s this in both 16 oz jars and 3lb bulk pack sizes

The following appeared recently in Mike Adams Natural News. Click here for original article

Nutiva’s New Hemp Protein Boasts Best Taste, Easier Mixing

“Nutiva has just raised the standard with a new hemp protein product  that tastes far superior to any hemp protein product I’ve ever tried.

It’s called Nutiva Organic Hemp Protein and it boasts 50% protein  content with a finer, easier-to-mix texture that’s impressively  smooth. But the best part is the vastly improved taste…. tastes more  like stabilized rice bran (to me, at least), which is a sort of rich  fatty cereal type of taste.  Remember, too, that the fats in hemp protein are super healthy,  consisting of a very high proportion of omega-3 fatty acids. The  Nutiva company also earns my enthusiastic recommendation, as its founder John Roulac is a huge supporter of natural living, natural  health and sustainable agriculture.

Nutiva has a winner here. I’ve sampled their new formula in chocolate  smoothies, and all the typical bitter taste of other hemp proteins was  completely gone. I’m not sure how Nutiva managed to create this  improved taste, but it didn’t involve any additional ingredients. The  product still contains only raw, certified organic hemp protein, and that’s it. No sweeteners, no fillers, nothing else!