RevCan

Who is the project aimed at?

The scientific community, the agri-food, paper and packaging industries, as well as companies and institutions working in bioeconomy, circular economy and sustainability. It is also aimed at industrial hemp producers and processors, and public administrations interested in promoting the valorisation of agricultural waste.

Project objective

To valorise industrial hemp waste (hemp shives) through sustainable processes that enable the production of high-value-added by-products such as xylooligosaccharides (XOS), lignin and nanocellulose. The project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of applying technologies used in biorefineries and the paper industry to transform this agricultural waste into useful materials for various sectors, thereby helping to reduce waste and advance towards a circular economy.

Project description

Industrial hemp cultivation has increased considerably in Catalonia in recent years. Approximately 50% of the crop consists of straw or hemp shives, which constitute waste that must be valorised to reduce waste. Hemp shives are composed of 50–60% cellulose, 20% hemicelluloses and 20% lignin.

Currently, by-products are obtained from different sources of lignocellulose (mainly composed of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin). However, the potential of hemp shives throughout the biorefinery and paper manufacturing processes remains largely unexplored.

The innovation of the project lies in obtaining all these by-products from industrial hemp crop waste, a resource that is becoming increasingly abundant in Catalonia and whose waste therefore needs to be reduced.

RevCan aims to demonstrate the valorisation of hemp shives by extracting their different components through sustainable processes, to create high-value-added biodegradable by-products such as xylooligosaccharides (XOS), with prebiotic and antioxidant properties; lignin, with antimicrobial and antioxidant applications; and nanocellulose, an innovative material with applications in the packaging sector and the paper industry.

Impact

The by-products to be developed as part of the project will help address the current climate emergency and advance the transition towards a bioeconomy and circular economy. The expected benefits include:

• Extracting lignocellulose components sequentially, in line with the current biorefinery concept.
• Obtaining emerging by-products with applications in different sectors: agri-food, paper and packaging.
• Reducing agricultural waste, particularly hemp shives, and identifying higher-value-added applications for them.
• Contributing to climate change mitigation, the bioeconomy and the circular economy.