Recipient Organization
BEAR FIBER, INC.
1314 GRACE ST
WILMINGTON,NC 284013752
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
In fashion and textiles manufacturing today, there are many opportunities to reduce negative social and environmental impacts including reducing high energy requirements and intensive chemical requirements.Bear Fiber is developing a novel hemp cottonization process and manufacturing platform for fiber production that will provide a scalable natural fiber solution to help reduce synthetic microplastic pollution in the marine environment, reduce the environmental impact of hemp processing, and support the cultivation of an alternative, bio-based rotational fiber crop for small and medium sized farmers, and textile producers. The outcome of the proposed activities will be a hemp fiber cottonization process that is more environmentally friendly, economical, and consistent than current methods; and a cotton-like hemp fiber that can be easily spun with and complement cotton.The technical hurdles currently limiting the market opportunity for hemp fiber for textiles addressed in this proposal are: 1) development of a scalable, consistent and minimal environmental impact treatment (cottonization) to ensure that hemp fiber can be produced economically for spinning mills and apparel brands, thus completing the textile value chain and creating a market for hemp fiber US agricultural producers cultivate, and 2) proof of concept yarn spinning in a standard cotton yarn. The first technical objective will focus on the development of a cottonization method utilizing naturally occurring and/or scalable biological processes to refine hemp fiber quality. The second technical objective will be to provide proof of concept yarn blended with our proprietary hemp fiber, as a result of the novel approach.The outcomes of this project will allow Bear Fiber to develop its own novel hemp fiber cottonization process that can then be scaled, provide a more competitive approach to synthetic and cotton fibers, and allow for capitalization on an emerging regenerative textile market. The broader societal impacts include additional income for farmers and rural communities through the use of a new rotational and carbon sequestering crop, an increase in supply and availability of a regenerative and renewable natural fiber, greater natural resource security, an increase in the use and sales of US textiles for bothdomestic and global markets, and the creation of additional jobs from the production, processing, manufacturing, research, and sales of Bear Fiber's hemp fiber.
Animal Health Component
60%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
5%
Applied
60%
Developmental
35%
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal for this project is to develop an innovative, sustainable, efficient, and economical method to degum or "cottonize" hemp fibers and produce domestically cultivated hemp fiber for cotton/hemp yarns used in textiles.Our Technical Objectives are:Technical Objective 1: Develop a novel degumming and cottonizing method to process hemp fibers. We intend to establish the necessary steps to process and standardize hemp samples into short staple fibers that can be consistently spun with cotton, evaluating five specific properties.Technical Objective 2. Spin and test the yarn produced from our fiber's novel approach. We will spin and evaluate the performance of a standard 21 single cotton/hemp blend yarn produced as a result of Technical Objective 1, evaluating: a) fineness, b) irregularity, c) tenacity d) CV of tenacity, e) elongation, and f) uniformity.
Project Methods
Efforts:Sample procurementDegumming solution development and analysisLaboratory testing and analysis of pre and post processed samplesFiber preparationSpinningEvaluation:Characterization of solutionEvaluation of five specific properties of degummed hemp fibersYarn evaluation a) fineness, b) irregularity, c) tenacity d) CV of tenacity, e) elongation, and f) uniformity.Spinnable yarnFiber fall out (waste)