With the help of an endowment, a small decorticator was purchased to process hemp stalks. A decorticator has several rollers to crush the stalks and paddles to separate the bast and the hurd. The bast is the long fiber used in fabrics, rope, paper, and for insulation. The hurd is the pithy inner material and is used as an absorbent for spills and animal bedding, for building materials, and plastics. Both the bast and hurd have many other applications that are being investigated.
The HurdMaster decorticator allows us to rapidly process the stalks from our trials. Then we can measure physical and chemical properties of the bast and hurd from different cultivars and management practices. It also allows us to have more material for development of novel products.
Fig 1. The HurdMaster decorticator is used for processing whole hemp stalks out at the ICSIC.
Fig 2. Hemp bast is the outer long fibers of the stalk.
Fig 3. Hemp hurd is the inner pithy component of the stalk.
