Innovation Anthology #85: Distinguished Professor of Anthropology
For thousands of years, farmers the world over have grown hemp to make cloth and rope.
In the 21st century, scientists at the Alberta Research Council are re- engineering hemp for a new purpose – to make plastics.
With the rising price of oil, and dwindling supplies of natural gas, plants like hemp provide an attractive alternative to synthetic petrochemicals.
ARC’s Dr. John Wolodko leads the largest biofibre development team in Canada.
DR. JOHN WOLODKO: End products can be anything you envision with plastic materials. It could be everything from car parts, automotive parts, aerospace, consumer products. Sporting goods, you name it. Anything with plastics could potentially be made with hemp reinforced natural fibres.
Hemp is hardy and grows fast, making it very suitable to the Canadian climate.
Dr. Wolodko’s team is genetically refining hemp to produce a multipurpose crop for farmers – a plant that’s both high in oilseed content with strong fibres to reinforce bio-composite materials.
Dr. Wolokdo expects manufacturers will be using new hemp based polymers within three to five years.
Thanks today to The Alberta Research Council.
FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY, I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
Guest
Leith Mullings, PhD,
CUGC, City University of New York, New York, New York, USA, lmullings@gc.cuny.edu
Sponsor
Alberta Research Council
Established as the first provincial research organization in Canada, the Alberta Research Council is 85 years old. The Alberta Research Council (ARC) develops and commercializes technologies to give customers a competitive advantage. A leader in innovation, ARC provides solutions globally to the energy, life sciences, agriculture, environment, forestry and manufacturing sectors.
ARC performs about five per cent of the roughly $1.5 billion in R&D done in Alberta each year, and generates revenues of approximately $84 million per year. ARC operates from five sites across the province in Edmonton, Calgary, Vegreville and Devon and employs more than 600 highly-skilled people.
In January 2010, under the new Alberta Innovation Framework, the Alberta Research Council was restructured and incorporated into the new provincial agency Alberta Innovates Technology Futures.
Program Date: 2007-11-20