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posted by martyb on Friday April 12 2019, @10:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the how-do-you-make-gin-from-hemp? dept.

Phys.org:

Richard Evans is on a mission to save the world with hemp.
...
Richard says hemp is "renewable, sustainable and clean" and can be used to "create foods, proteins, fibres and medicines".

If that wasn't enough, Richard also says the plant would be useful for decontaminating soil, storing carbon and could even be a contender to replace the oil industry.

The diverse potential of hemp is why Mirreco created its specialised machine—a world-first invention capable of processing hemp in a new way.

"I realised a few years ago that the bottleneck in the global hemp industry is processing," says Richard.

The machine allows for processing at farms, with rapid conversion into numerous materials that can be used for many purposes.

Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin saved cotton farming in the American South. Perhaps Mirreco's machine could do the same for hemp?


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by khallow on Saturday April 13 2019, @12:13AM (27 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 13 2019, @12:13AM (#828800) Journal

    I'm old enough to remember when the same people saying this is unpossible said that solar and wind energy could never work because of cloudy days and "sometimes the wind don't blow, herp derp." Then they tried to tell us that "windmills cause cancer".

    Did they try to tell you straw men were made of windmills? Why didn't you listen!?!

    So maybe shut up and let the hemp researchers do their thing. Who fucking knows what they might be able to do? Certainly not you all.

    Because we've never had someone sell us a vaporware product before. Maybe it'll be different this time.

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       Offtopic=1, Troll=2, Informative=1, Overrated=1, Disagree=1, Touché=1, Total=7
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @01:14AM (11 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @01:14AM (#828813)

    What's you shtick on this one? Hemp is a gateway drug? Do you have something against letting people grow the stuff?

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by khallow on Saturday April 13 2019, @01:20AM (10 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 13 2019, @01:20AM (#828816) Journal

      What's you shtick on this one?

      Trolling for the AC vibes.

      • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @01:28AM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @01:28AM (#828817)

        We expect nothing less from the intellectually bankrupt. Pissing people off is all you've got left. Well, there is always the last box option if you really can't take your horrible existence.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:21AM (3 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:21AM (#828846) Journal
          That's pretty sanctimonious coming from someone who didn't add anything to the conversation. Here's what the conversation looked like [soylentnews.org] when I talked to a grown up. He got a respectful reply explaining my earlier post. He also got thoughtful posts from two other people.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @03:15PM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @03:15PM (#828980)

            You started the shitty reply chain, take yer own high minded advice huh?

            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 13 2019, @03:22PM (1 child)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 13 2019, @03:22PM (#828982) Journal
              The grown ups didn't have a problem working with that.

              high minded advice

              No pun intended, amirite?

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 14 2019, @03:47AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 14 2019, @03:47AM (#829226)

                I imagine you're a Libertarian, Republicans are pretty big on the whole "personal responsibility" trope.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:17AM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:17AM (#828842)

        :-) I can dig, man! I'll give ya credit, you catch some good ones, and the regulars always come back for more too. A lot of them got a mouth full of hooks. It must be some "piercing" fashion thing. Keep on playin'

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:31AM (3 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:31AM (#828849) Journal
          Thanks, someone has to fight the good fight. While I tend more to bait the negative nancies, they have a point here. Way too often we get a technology advance advertised only to have it disappear from sight like a submarine with a gaping hole in the side. I think it's telling that we don't much about this hemp processing machine except that it needs investors.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @05:08AM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @05:08AM (#828877)

            someone has to fight the good fight.

            Yeah, well, as the good doctor said, *Don't bury yourself in the part*

            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 13 2019, @12:53PM (1 child)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 13 2019, @12:53PM (#828945) Journal
              No worries here. I don't have to try hard.
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 14 2019, @12:33AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 14 2019, @12:33AM (#829185)

                Well dude, I would not call THAT a good thing! I mean, being a dick comes natural to ya?? You really ARE one? Damn, I guess we have you to think for Trump/Clinton then, huh?

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday April 13 2019, @01:49AM (14 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 13 2019, @01:49AM (#828831) Journal

    Except, hemp isn't vaporware. Hemp has a long history in agriculture. It was commonly grown throughout the world, right up until DuPont created their nylon to replace it. Prior to the prohibition of this common plant, ships carried tons of hemp, in the form of cordage and/or sails.

    No, hemp isn't the end-all and be-all of sustainability. But hemp is a very important part of sustainability.

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by ilPapa on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:03AM (1 child)

      by ilPapa (2366) on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:03AM (#828837) Journal

      Plus, (and you probably already know this), there are tasty snacks made from hemp. The toasted hemp hearts are delicious, high in protein and delicious on snacks, salads etc. I picked up a bag of salted, roasted hemp seeds at the Grocery Outlet the other day, and I've been snacking on them while watching baseball.

      Hemp oil is good stuff for the skin and can even be used as fuel, and CBD oil works great on the little bursitis in my shoulder from an old injury. You can make flour from hemp that bakes into a very tasty bread and it's a fuck of a lot healthier than wheat flour.

      The only reason it's not a big cash crop in the US is because of our puritanical laws against pot. I wish the hemp industry well.

      --
      You are still welcome on my lawn.
      • (Score: 5, Informative) by dry on Saturday April 13 2019, @05:02AM

        by dry (223) on Saturday April 13 2019, @05:02AM (#828872) Journal

        Hemp seed also contains all the proteins needed by people as well as all the essential oils. With some greens, you could live a long time on a hemp seed diet.
        Hemp oil was also heavily used in industry, the paint industry by itself used a shit ton.
        What killed it was when someone invented a machine to separate the fibers and started making cheap high quality paper. Hearst had just heavily invested in pulp paper and between having his son-in-law in government and a huge publishing empire to put out fake news, he removed the competition and made the government that more powerful.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by MostCynical on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:05AM (3 children)

      by MostCynical (2589) on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:05AM (#828838) Journal
      --
      "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
      • (Score: 2) by jasassin on Sunday April 14 2019, @01:25AM (2 children)

        by jasassin (3566) <jasassin@gmail.com> on Sunday April 14 2019, @01:25AM (#829201) Homepage Journal

        I came to give props to the clothes. I had a hemp (80% hemp 20% cotton by law) t-shirt. It was super slinky like silk. They are expensive now, but hopefully that will change as more people are accepting hemp. They are really missing out on the ultimate fabric!

        --
        jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 14 2019, @03:33AM (1 child)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday April 14 2019, @03:33AM (#829223) Journal

          I've read many times that hemp outlasts cotton fabric of the same weight about 7 times. What was your experience with your hemp shirt?

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:10AM (7 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:10AM (#828839) Journal
      The issue is not the hemp, but rather the utility of a harvesting machine with a rather vague description. I did a web search and the only details that I can find is that it does something with hemp, and they're seeking investors. That sends up warning flags for me.
      • (Score: 4, Informative) by dry on Saturday April 13 2019, @05:07AM (6 children)

        by dry (223) on Saturday April 13 2019, @05:07AM (#828876) Journal

        You need to find the 1930's era Popular Mechanics that had the article about the machine that separated the fiber which made hemp much more competitive. Capitalism killed it though, media mogul published lots of fake news to protect his pulp paper investments as well as influencing government by offering to put all those G-MEN back to work after prohibition ended.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 13 2019, @01:06PM (5 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 13 2019, @01:06PM (#828946) Journal
          Just because someone had a working design 80 years ago doesn't mean that this business has a working machine today.
          • (Score: 2) by dry on Saturday April 13 2019, @03:42PM (4 children)

            by dry (223) on Saturday April 13 2019, @03:42PM (#828985) Journal

            It shows the possibility.

            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 13 2019, @07:35PM (3 children)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 13 2019, @07:35PM (#829044) Journal
              The possibility would still exist even if that 80 year old design didn't exist. What gets me is the lack of details about which I've already spoken.
              • (Score: 2) by dry on Saturday April 13 2019, @07:46PM (2 children)

                by dry (223) on Saturday April 13 2019, @07:46PM (#829050) Journal

                What is there to do? Separating the fibre from the balst (sp?) was the labour intensive part of the process. Separating the oil from the seeds is simple and has been done for a long time.
                Perhaps they're doing something with the cellulose that is left over after removing the fibre?

                • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 13 2019, @08:03PM (1 child)

                  by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 13 2019, @08:03PM (#829067) Journal
                  I gather that they're throwing the whole plant in and getting this stuff mostly separated at the other end. One machine that would do everything would be rather nice.
                  • (Score: 2) by dry on Sunday April 14 2019, @12:17AM

                    by dry (223) on Sunday April 14 2019, @12:17AM (#829181) Journal

                    Shouldn't be hard to do. Have to separate the seeds first, which must be well established tech, then the fibres.