There are a couple of companies that have tried to play at scale in the industrial hemp processing space but who had difficulties maintaining operations for differing reasons (undercapitalized, seasonal crop shortages, market demand/consistency). There are a few newer companies in NC, AL, PA and MT who are at a smaller scale but have some product potentially coming on line. Most of the producers have focused initially on the fiber for textiles or the on the plastics industry or biocomposites and not as much on the hemp hurd/shiv (inner woody core) for the hempcrete (hemplime) building industry or animal bedding. Further many of the start ups have not had robust processes in place to guarantee uniform and proper hemp hurd sizing and a low percentage of long fiber and fines to make them reliable. This is why most of the projects built in the US have utilized European hemp with a few Canadian sourced hemp projects too. As far as sourcing hemp aggregate from CBD waste HempStone has done some prelimnary hotbox testing of numerous hemp hurd/limes, and other materials with the University of Massachusetts and we are awaiting the test results. I do not anticipate a large variance in the thermal performance of the CBD hurd as the material size and granularity and density were similar but we will also be performing strength testing at some point soon. This is more more practical considerations around non-in situ production considerations around durability for transport for panelized and block assembly types. The hemp wool batts are sourced in Quebec but Hempitecture is a great resource in the Mtn/West regions. I am on the supply committee for the US Hemp Buidling Association (USHBA) and we are working hard on the issue of both stable and reliable suppliers as well as quality standards for processors.
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