Chemovator, a BASF business incubator, announced a €200,000 investment in Heartland, a Detroit-based producer of hemp additives for plastic.
Heartland produces renewable, biodegradable hemp fillers and fibres. The latest addition to its portfolio is the Imperium masterbatch, an additive for plastic, rubber, foam, paper, concrete, and asphalt.
Hemp can be used in high temperatures without combusting, which makes it safe for use in high-temperature applications, such as plastic cups and containers. It’s also non-toxic, so suitable for food contact. Its low density makes it less expensive to transport than other additives like talc.
The natural fibres biogenic carbon uptake can also help companies reduce their scope 3 emissions.
The amount by which Heartland’s hemp fibres reduce a product’s carbon footprint depends on what polymer they are blended with, and what additives they replace, the company’s CEO and founder Jess Henry told Sustainable Plastics.
“We've seen a reduction in product carbon footprint by [over] 50%,” Henry said. “We will be able to share numbers for the CO2 reduction for the BASF nylon application in the coming months,” he added.
A calculator on Heartland’s website shows that replacing talc with hemp in a 20% concentration in polypropylene, for example, results in 12.04% cost savings, 14.13% weigh reduction, and 40.08% carbon reduction.
Through the investment, Heartland became Chemovator’s first portfolio company in North America and the latest addition to its Elevate programme. The programme aims to support early-stage start-ups in the chemical industry through monetary investment, access to BASF and its experts, as well as support from a network of experienced entrepreneurs. Its focusses areas in sustainability include CO2 reduction, use of renewable feedstocks, and recycling.
Heartland partners with corn, wheat, and soy farmers in the US to embed industrial hemp into their crop rotation. Through partnerships with Ravago, for example, it has engineered its hemp additives so that the final products do not require additional retooling costs for plastic compounders and moulders.
The company currently processes 5 to 10 tons of material per hour, through a contract manufacturer. “We are currently discussing licencing agreements with other manufacturers that can produce billions of pounds per year,” Henry concluded.