Low-Carbon Platform for Biomanufacturing of Nature-Inspired Building Materials

There is no clear pathway towards curbing climate change without a fundamental shift in the building and construction industries. The built environment is responsible for over 37% of anthropogenic carbon emissions, requiring novel materials and practices to reduce both the embodied and operational carbon emissions of new and existing construction.

This proposal advances the decarbonization of building construction through the adoption and processing of hemp into a range of value-added building material inputs. Hemp is a robust growing, low-input and high-CO2 sequestering crop with a short grow cycle (60–90 days) and high lignocellulosic biomass output (>2 tons per acre), making it an ideal source of renewable materials that do not compete with food crops for land.

Prior published work described a solvent-free process to generate hemp fiber particles, and the conversion of these particles into fermentable sugars to produce value-added chemicals. This project plans to expand on this work to optimize processing and particle material properties as inputs into architectural and structural materials and use fermentation to produce mycelium-based materials as one specific, value-added bio-based material input that can be engineered for function. 

Focusing on zero waste, this team plans to convert residual biomass post-processing into biochar as an input into concrete. Moreover, they will investigate the use of different hemp cultivars to identify those that can be grown to high density in a cost-effective manner for use in downstream processing.

Collectively, the outcomes of this work will lead to a wide range of bio-based materials and applications for use in decarbonizing building materials, as well as establish a platform for future bio-based material development and production.