Hemp Concrete – A Traditional and Novel

Green Building Material

Subject: Adv. Concrete Technology:
(MSc. Transportation Engineering)
MSc. Research Proposal
Group Members:
Engr. M. Wajahat Ali Khawaja
Engr. Awais Khan
Engr. Mazhar Khan

Instructor : Dr. Yasir Irfan Badrashi

Civil Engineering Department University of Engineering & Technology,
Peshawar

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Presentation Outlines
• Introduction and Literature Review

• Applications of Hemp

• Properties of Hemp Concrete

• Conclusion

• References

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 Introduction and Literature Review
• World leaders at the Paris Climate Accord, 2016 had committed to limit the global
rise in temperature to less than 1.5 C. Understandably that is a tall order as the global
greenhouse gas emissions are over 49.3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent (Olivier et al.,
2017).

• Some strategies that accomplish geoengineering are the large-scale removal of

carbon dioxide from the earth’s atmosphere, called Carbon Dioxide Reduction
(CDR), (Sandler, 2018).

• To counter the rising carbon dioxide emissions, punctuated by the alarming rise in
global warming and climate change, a fresh, new perspective for a traditional
building material has been put forth - the incorporation of plant derived biomass in a
mineral binder matrix to form a productive building material with desirable
properties such as mechanical performance, durability and low carbon footprint,
called cellulose aggregate concrete (CAC).

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Contd…
• One such CAC is lime hemp concrete, also known as hemp concrete or
hempcrete.

• Hempcrete is constituted of hemp shivs and lime based binder. Hemp is a

collective name for the high-growing varieties of the cannabis sativa plant
used for industrial purposes such as textiles, food, plastics, paper, etc.

• The success of hempcrete lies in the fact that it is carbon negative due to its
agricultural origin and the use of lime and other industrial wastes as the
mineral binders. It was found that every kilogram of hemp shivs sequesters
about 1.6 to 1.8 kg of carbon dioxide (Jami, 2016).

• Hemp shiv is one of the most widely used and studied plant particles for the
manufacture of building materials, and hemp concrete is one of the most
widely studied bio-based concretes.

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APPLICATIONS OF HEMP
• Hemp has found its use in about 25000 applications (Popular Mechanics, 1938) and
has been in use since as early as 8000 BCE (Allegret, 2013), making it one of the
earliest cultivated crops. Interestingly, the U.S. Declaration of Independence was
written on a hemp paper.
• Some of the many products refined from hemp that have been perfected over time
are as following:

1. Hemp seed food

2. Hempseed edible oil
3. Oil, resin and wax for industrial applications such as lubricants, etc.
4. Medicines for various pains and psychological ailments, as well as cancer treatment
5. Personal care products derived from hempseed oil
6. Textiles products such as apparels and technical textiles,
7. Biofuel
8. Cellulose plastics and Paper
9. Hemp concrete
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PROPERTIES OF HEMP CONRETE
Anatomy of Hemp Stalk :

• The hemp stalk/straw is majorly divided into 2 parts – (a) bast and (b) hurd.
The bast fibres are extracted from a retting process of the hemp straw and
woven into textiles, cords, ropes, etc.

• The hurd of the plant has hitherto been used for insulation, animal bedding,
etc. However, for the purpose of hemp concrete, it is the hurds, also known
as shivs that are used as the cellulose aggregates.

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• Figure 1 shows the hemp stalk that is processed into its various forms for the
manufacture of hempcrete.

• The retted hemp stalks as shown in Figure 1 are processed in a blade mill where the
size of the aggregates can be chosen and follow a definite size group. Large hemp
industries that process hemp stalks for bast fibres use a decorticator, which produces
hemp shivs of random sizes from the whole hemp straws.

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Mechanical Properties of Hemp
Concrete
• Hemp concrete is a lightweight concrete that is currently only being used as
an in-fill material in non-structural applications. In European countries it is
normally cast in between timber studs as an infill material, playing the
double function of a wall and insulation.

• Hence, mechanical performance was not a matter of major concern for

hemp concrete, with manufacturers focusing majorly on the thermal and
hygrothermal properties. However, the mechanical support provided by
hempcrete infill to timber studs in weak-axis is an added benefit, begotten
unintentionally.

• A 2012 study at Queen’s University had shown that high density as well as
low-density hemp concrete infill had prevented weak axis buckling in
timber walls, failing at more than twice the load as compared to unfilled
timber walls (Mukherjee, 2012).
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Density
• Several researchers have published varying results for the density of
hempcrete, ranging from 300 to 900 kg/m3 (Arnaud and Gourlay, 2011;
Cerezo, 2005; Cigasova et al., 2014; Elfordy et al., 2008; Evrard, 2003;
Kioy, 2005; Nguyen et al., 2009; Piot et al., 2017).

• However, the material has never lost its lightweight status always
remaining well below the 1000 kg/m3 density mark. The large variation in
the values of density of hemp concrete also bears testament towards the
material’s versatility in applications, within of course, the boundaries of
nonstructural applications.

• The characteristic reason for the low density of hemp concrete lies in the
fact that hemp is a very lightweight material with an apparent density of
about 112 kg/m3 (Picandet, 2017) and the use of lightweight binders such
as lime (900 – 1000 kg/m3 ) and fly ash.
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Compressive Strength
• One of the most important parameters for a building material used as a
walling material is compressive strength.
• Researchers around the world that have worked with hemp concrete have
reported various values of hempcrete’s compressive strength ranging from
0.2 to 6.94 MPa depending on the casting process (Arnaud and Gourlay,
2011; Cerezo, 2005; Cigasova et al., 2014; Elfordy et al., 2008; Evrard,
2003; Kioy, 2005; Nguyen et al., 2009).
• The authors have also discerned a clear proportional relationship between
density and compressive strength.
• Most hemp concrete mixes when manufactured without any compaction
tend to have a low young’s modulus and dimensional stability as compared
to the compacted mixes.
• It was found that compaction increases the density as the compactness
increases. Some other factors, which affect the compressive strength of the
hemp concrete mix, are aggregate size and chemical composition of the
binder.
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Thermal Conductivity
• One of the hallmark characteristics of hemp concrete is its excellent
thermal behaviour.
• Past research had shown that the thermal conductivity falls between 0.06
and 0.54 W/(m.K) (Elfordy et al., 2008; Lawrence et al., 2012; Evrard et
al., 2014).
• Much like compressive strength, the thermal conductivity of hemp concrete
varies proportionally with density.
• As the density of the mix increases, so does the thermal conductivity. This
is because of the reduction of the pore size and the porosity. As the density
increases, the heat transfer interface becomes more connected, thereby
facilitating heat transfer.
• However, due to hemp concrete’s high porosity and Moisture Buffer Value
of 2 g/(m2 .%RH) (Latif et al., 2015), moisture gets entrapped within the
many pores of the material resulting in the material gaining thermal mass.
This thermal mass prevents fluctuations in temperature of the indoor
atmosphere much like phase change materials (PCM).
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Durability
• Durability signifies the longevity of the structure made from the material
studied.
• Interestingly, hemp concrete, because of the lime content undergoes
carbonation across a span of several years and turns into limestone,
rendering strength to the structure and the micro bonds in the binder matrix
(Cultrone et al., 2005; Lawrence, 2006).
• This gain in strength over time could possibly signify increasing durability
with time. According to Walker et al. who had studied the mechanical
properties and durability of various hemp-lime mixes, hemp concrete
behaves poorly in freeze-thaw cycles because of the washout of mass.
• However, they had found that hemp concrete is fairly resistant to sodium
chloride salt exposure and biological deterioration due to microbial attack
(Walker et al., 2014). Contrarily, Piot et al., 2017 had reported the growth
of mould just beneath the surface of the coating they had applied to their
test specimens.

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 Carbon Negativity of Hemp Concrete
• A study conducted by Jami, 2016 had shown that hemp shivs are composed of
45% carbon, meaning 1 kg of hemp shivs sequester about 1.6 to 1.8 kg of
carbon dioxide through photosynthesis during the plant’s growth.

• A study indicated that a functional wall unit of dimensions 1m x 1m x 0.3m had

sequestrated 82.71 kg of carbon dioxide, which not only compensated for the
46.43 kg of carbon dioxide emitted during growing, manufacturing and
construction processes such as manufacture of lime, transportation of material,
etc., but also enabled an additional 36.08 kg of carbon storage.

• This means that structures made of hemp concrete essentially compensate for
all of the carbon emissions made from all other processes related to
constructing the structures.

• Hence, if the goal is to achieve a carbon neutral building, hemp concrete must
be used in a considerable quantum to offset the carbon emissions
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 CONCLUSION
• With enough emphasis laid on the carbon negative nature and the various
mechanical properties of the material, it can be concluded that while hemp
concrete has been in use since several centuries ago, the traditional material has
freshly acquired a futuristic status.
• However, competing against technologies that enable rapid construction and
reduce cost would mean that considerable research efforts would need to be
undertaken.
• Currently, only one variety of hemp construction is being explored, which is
the application of hemp concrete in combination with timber studs in walls and
columns.
• For wider distribution of the material, hemp concrete blocks must be
researched and developed that can be enabled to take larger loads. Hence
developmental studies for improve the mechanical properties such as
compressive strength, flexural strength and dimensional stability must be
undertaken.
• Further, the durability issues arising out of the mould growth must be addressed
as it affects the health of the residents.

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References
1. Allegret S. (2013), “The History of Hemp”, In: P. Bouloc, S. Allerget, L. Arnaud ed.,
Hemp Industrial Production and Uses, CABI, pp. 4-26
2. Arnaud L and Gourlay E (2011) “Experimental study of parameters influencing
mechanical properties of hemp concrete” Construction and Building Materials 28(1)
pp.50–56
3. Cérézo V (2005) “Propriétés mécaniques, thermiques et acoustiques d’un matériau à
base de particules végétales: approche expérimentale et modélisation théorique”
(Mechanical, Thermal and Acoustic Properties of a Material based on Plant Particles:
Experimental Approach and Theoretical Modeling), PhD thesis, École nationale des
travaux publics de l’État, Lyon, France
4. Cigasova J., Stevulova N., Schwarzova I., Junak J. (2014), “Innovative Use of Biomass
Based on Technical Hemp in Building Industry”, Chemical Engineering Transactions,
37 pp.685- 690
5. Cultrone G., Sebastian E. and Ortega Huertas M. (2005) “Forced and natural
carbonation of lime-based mortars with and without additives: mineralogical and
textural changes”, Cement and Concrete Research 35 pp.2278–2289 Elfordy S., Lucas
F., Tancret F., Scudeller Y., Goudet L. (2008) “Mechanical and thermal properties of
lime and hemp concrete manufactured by a projection process”, Construction and
Building Materials; 22 pp.2116-2123
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Contd…
6. Evrard A., Flory-Celini C., Claeys-Bruno M. and De Herde A. (2014) “Influence of
liquid absorption coefficient on hygrothermal behaviour of an existing brick wall with
lime–hemp plaster”, Building and Environment 79 pp.90–100
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constructions in the UK” Resources, Conservation and Recycling 69 pp.1–9
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construction”, Emerging Materials Research, 5(2), pp. 240-247
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Thesis, Inst. of R&D, Gujarat Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat,
India
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Fungal Atacks”, MEng dissertation, University of Bath, Bath, UK
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an experimental hemp-lime building”, Key Engineering Materials 517 pp.413–421

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14. Lawrence R. (2006) “A Study of Carbonation in Nonhydraulic Lime Mortars”, PhD
thesis, Deptt. of Civil Engg., University of Bath, Bath, UK
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20. Piot A., Béjat T., Jay A., Bessette L., Wurtz E. and Barnes-Davin L. (2017) “Study
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THANKS.

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