UK project aimed at accelerating hemp as as biorefinery crop

A project aimed at accelerating the use of hemp as a biorefinery crop is among 24 sustainability initiatives that have received funding from the UK government.

The project, HEMP-30, being led by the University of York, was awarded £200,000 ($276,000) from a total £4 million ($5.5 million) granted under the Biomass Feedstocks Innovation Programme, which aims to increase biomass production that can be used for green energy. The biomass program is part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s £1bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.

The program is being run in two phases; in the initial phase, projects receive funding to produce innovative project plans; successful projects are then funded to commercialize their initiatives.

Addressing climate change

“Working to develop new and greener types of fuel like biomass is an important part of building the diverse and green energy mix that we will need to achieve our climate change targets,” said Energy Minister Lord Callanan.

“We are backing UK innovators to ensure we have a homegrown supply of biomass materials, which is part of our wider plans to continue driving down carbon emissions as we build back greener,” Callanan said

In addition to HEMP-30, notable projects that received funding are:

Green Fuels Research, a project to produce algae for biomass from brewery and dairy wastewater.
Phycofoods, which would use whisky byproducts to enhance microalgael biomass.
BioFIND, a project to design and plan a UK-wide multi-site demonstration platform for biomass feedstock production.

The UK Government is expected to publish its strategy next year outlining how biomass can best be used to help meet net zero targets.


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