Gaining more and more importance in our everyday life natural fibres are experiencing an impressive revival as insulation material and biocomposites in automotive applications. Time to look at their environmental impact and to ensure the sustainability of this revival. As a first step towards supporting the development of sustainably produced and innovative biorefinery products, nova-Institute has carried out a carbon footprint for various natural fibres. These include: hemp, which was assessed as part of the European (FP7) project MultiHemp, whose aim is the development and implementation of sustainable hemp biorefinery concepts; in comparison to flax, jute and kenaf. Our preliminary results show that the carbon footprint of all four fibres is decisively lower in comparison to their conventional counterparts i.e. glass and mineral fibres. Moreover, we found the carbon footprints of the natural fibres to be very similar to each other. For more details download the full report at: http://www.bio-based.eu/ecology.

Download a picture of flax, hemp, jute and kenaf biocomposites and insulation material (Source: nova 2015) in full resolution here: