Hempstatic - Regenerative Building Elements for a Biobased Value Chain
Hempstatic creates new industrial symbioses based on a circular model nurturing the eco-driven growth of regional bio-based value chains.
We produce regenerative insulating elements from high-quality agricultural residues and establish an interlink between the farming and construction sectors.
Cities and rural regions benefit from increased resource efficiency through sustainable cultivation and production practices and the use of CO2 offset potentials.
Regional
Austria
Lower Austria, Vienna
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Hempstatic GmbH Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Elena Last name of representative: Yaneva Age: 29 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Gender: Female Nationality: Bulgaria Function: CEO and Co-Founder Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Lindengasse56/18-19 Town: Vienna Postal code: 1070 Country: Austria Direct Tel:+43 677 61748420 E-mail:elena@hempstatic.at Website:https://hempstatic.at/
We are a Viennese start-up specializing in the processing of high-quality agricultural residues from industrial hemp into modular insulation products for residential and commercial buildings. These serve to substitute the petroleum-based products, which currently dominate the insulation markets.
Building a sustainable and reliable value chain to ensure the scalability and healthy growth of our project is essential. Our vision is to become a driving stakeholder in the development of the regional bio-based value chain and to create new aspiring industrial symbiosis.
To achieve our vision, we take over a whole-systems approach with the stakeholders involved across the whole value chain from the raw material supply to the end customer.
Underlying is a circularity model that works intra- and intersectoral and fosters sustainable development. It is based on the cultivation of industrial hemp, one of the fastest growing and most versatile multi-revenue crops.
Farmers choose hemp because it provides healthy, nutrient-rich soil. The use of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides can be avoided in most cases because the hemp plant is less susceptible to pests, which promotes sustainable agriculture.
Farmers within a radius of approx. 50 km from Vienna grow hemp to obtain valuable raw materials, like fiber for sustainable textiles, protein-rich foods, oils and seeds. A valuable by-product is produced during processing - the hemp shives, the chopped woody inner core of the stalks. The shives make up 50% - 60% of the harvested plant mass and are the main ingredient in our biocomposites.
The expected impact includes improved soil health going hand in hand with the unique properties of the hemp plant, increased availability of renewable commodities, diversification to wood and timber as a biobased source, clean and circular production of renewable insulating materials and the related energy savings and realizing the potential of CO2-offset associated with hemp cultivation.
industrial symbiosis
regenerative materials
ecodriven design
modularity
biobased value chains
At Hempstatic, we are most strict and uncompromising with the definition of our materials of choice. We make high performing biocomposites from hemp shivs and lime for interior spaces. Our first product line is dedicated to the field of acoustics and aesthetics.
The ecological benefits are related to the further processing of a locally sourced and regenerative secondary raw material, the circular behavior of our biocomposite and product design and the sequestration of CO2 that remains stored within the created products.
Hemp plants store 9-15 tons of CO2 during their life-cycle, whereas the stalks sequester 1.6-1.7 tons of CO2 per ton. Our biocomposites sequester more CO2 than they produce during their life cycle. They also capture CO2 from the air during the carbonatization process of the lime binder, which additionally contributes to the negative carbon footprint of our materials. Approx. 118.8 kg CO2 -eq. can be saved per cubic meter of our biocomposite. During the production of the biocomposite, the CO2 emissions are compensated in the raw material processing phase. The sum of these with the compensation equivalents during the use phase of the material results in the emission storage.
When comparing one cubic meter of our biocomposites to the most popular insulation materials, one can achieve savings from 171 kg CO2-eq. up to approx. 326 kg CO2-eq. per cubic meter of insulation. Unlike glass or rock wool, or polyurethane foams, Hempstatic biocomposite is not hazardous waste, because it does not contain any chemicals agents nor plastic compounds.
Our production workshop is supplied with renewable energy from photovoltaics on the roof and a geothermal pump. Hempstatic aims to set a benchmark in the insulation industry as a good practice.
Our insulating interior elements are designed to reduce sound transmission, sound propagation and reverberation. As a visible interior element, they reveal the natural beauty of subtle designs and the endless possibilities to create such by using only ecological materials.
They are designed to last and embody an evergreen nuance from an aesthetic perspective. Because timeless design is a function of universality in aesthetics, excellence in performance, and harmony with the natural standpoint of our being as an active shaper of the surrounding environment.
Our products are modular, reusable, repairable, and regenerative. They can be easily installed, dismantled and reinstalled to fit the dynamic changes of space and interior design. This property gives our customers the freedom to redesign their spaces at any time.
The individual components can be replaced and repaired. The cool part about our products is that their performance does not get affected by time and their mechanical performances even improves until the carbonatization is fully reached.
The given material aesthetics suit any space and are a particularly good fit for wooden surfaces, which are gaining on popularity through sustainable construction.
The color variations are created with the help of natural pigments that do not impact negatively the end-of-life of the product.
With our designs we bring hemp-lime to places where it is usually not used and open up a whole new creativity line for production creation through functional design.
Since modularity, geometry and shape are central to product development, we draw inspiration from significant artists like M.C. Esher and embed it into our creative work. The first prototypes that we created are tessellations that explore the limits of design complexity and possibility, like our Cairo Pentile Tessellation absorbers.
The number of farmers cultivating hemp as a rotational or main crop in the EU is constantly on the rise, yet with a slow tempo. Farmers choose hemp because it provides healthy, nutrient-rich soil and they can avoid the use of insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides, because the plant is less susceptible to pests. According to the European Commission's website, hemp offers numerous benefits, such as protection against soil erosion and diseases, reduction of water loss, large amounts of pollen in summer, shelter, and food for animals.
The EU hemp acreage grew from 19,970 ha in 2015 to 34,960 ha in 2019, a 75% increase. The trend shows that long-term growth is expected worldwide. In Austria, the hemp cultivated area hemp was 1,165 ha in 2015 and 2,166 ha in 2020. This increase of 86% shows that the trend in Austria follows the international trend. Thanks to legislative changes, national and EU-wide initiatives and support programs, the development and use of standards, an increase in hemp acreage is expected to continue.
Farmers, industry players, communities and municipalities can benefit from this growing market by developing the innovation potential of the domestic market and creating incentives for hemp cultivation in new regions to set new global benchmarks.
The Austrian hemp processing industry is still a niche, so there is great potential for development. Between Hanfthal and Sankt Pölten, farmers cultivate around 500 hectares of hemp every year. The shives are produced in a small, self-built facility. Higher production capacities can be achieved by upgrading the existing facility, which is a main goal for its owner.
It is essential to build up reliable partnerships between the farmers and the raw material purchasers. This is a key to ensuring sustainable economics and can be achieved by companies growing demand for such raw materials that are able to deploy suitable business models with great impact potential.
With our soundproofing solutions we address the following societal pain points: noise emissions due to thin walls in apartments and commercial buildings; reduced productivity and well-being due to noise pollution; expensive ecological insulation products; high consumption of plastic materials in the field of insulation.
Upcycling is the basis of our insulating material technology - from waste or unused by-product to raw material/insulating material: we use the otherwise unused by-products of fiber production in production to make high-quality and affordable building materials.
We are vertically expanding the value chain of the raw material industrial hemp and through close cooperation with the farmers and primary processors we can transparently declare the origin of our raw materials. Short delivery routes for the raw materials allow good turnover and convenient proximity to the supplier and customer up to the last mile.
With our demand for locally sourced hemp, we are making an impact in supporting biodiversity, carbon reduction, soil improvement, water conservation, fertilizer and pesticide savings, and many other positive benefits that come with growing hemp. We promote the regional development of bio-based value chains.
The CO2 impact, sequestration and offset are illustrated using the following simplified example:
A hemp cultivation area of 110 hectares sequesters about 1100 tons of CO2. That's the equivalent of 239 trucks driven, 4.4 million kilometers driven or 123 households’ energy consumption per year. This area can contribute to the achievement of a small community or district's climate goals. Up to 70,000 m² of low-emission insulation material can be produced and used to achieve the city's renovation and energy targets. Clear potential for energy efficiency, and CO2 storage to promote eco-driven building practices in municipalities. This circular model ensures an increase in regional resource efficiency in cities and communities.
To test the impact model in practice, we designed a pilot project concept and defined the stakeholder structure. It encompasses six pillars: Cultivation, Processing, Postprocess, Management, Region and Marketing and involves the following stakeholders: farmers, machine manufacturers, raw materials purchasers, researchers, competence centers, economic and farmers chambers, clusters, retailers, municipalities, investors and administrative and operational human resources.
All stakeholders will be engaged as a part of a regional Consortia project.
As a perfectly suitable site for testing the model, we identified the Vienna Airport, which is pursuing the implementation of circular economy across its all verticals.
At their site, buildings are constantly undergoing renovation, are being dismantled or built new. Therefore, a targeted search is made for ecological and circular building materials.
At the same time, the Airport owns and rents the large agricultural areas in its proximity. Ideally, industrial hemp will be grown in these areas (considering crop rotation ) and after processing, insulating materials will be produced to be used for construction/renovation at the airport site.
We presented our concept and received positive feedback from stakeholders. First meeting with the raw material supplier, hemp processor, the head of the district chamber of farmers Bruck/Leitha, representatives of the Vienna Airport Real Estate and Construction Department have taken place and steps have been taken to prepare the pilot project.
Other planned stakeholders such as competence centers could be connected to the project for data collection, data analysis, impact measurements, etc. as well as other industrial raw material purchasers to cover the whole plant mass utilization.
This concept can be scaled with the help of the Airport, since it maintains close relationships with other airports across Europe that are facing similar challenges and have similar assets.
The development of our biocomposites requires knowledge and expertise in civil engineering and architecture, building materials, research and development, standardization, manufacturing technologies, design, financial planning, sales, value chain and stakeholders management.
A wide range of disciplines is involved into the consortia concept to carry out the variety of tasks embedded within that require know-how in the following specific spheres: industrial hemp cultivation, agronomy, agri-machinery and equipment, logistics, hemp harvesting technologies, hemp processing technologies, decortication, extraction and refining, raw materials trading, product and service development, marketing, sales and distribution, retail and e-commerce, data collection and analysis, education and awareness building, CO2 impact assessment, biodiversity, soil health, industrial symbioses, public relations and communication, stakeholder relations, finance and investment management, sustainability metrics, carbon credits management.
Each specific domain has been attributed to a relevant stakeholder with a field of influence and action power. The interaction of the stakeholders is aligned to the timeline of the concept, whereas it focuses firstly on the validation of the critical points which are decisive for the successful realization of the milestone acts and engages the stakeholders with the most acute need to drive the concept forward.
We are the first company in the world specializing in the production of soundproofing elements made of hemp-lime. We developed the very first sound absorber made from hemp-lime - a worldwide innovation. The functional design, the sustainable ingredients, the material properties, and the natural aesthetics make our products unique.
By purchasing our products, our customers support the transition to a circular economy and the reduction of CO2 emissions in the insulation industry, as well as sustainable regional development.
The ingredients, the traceability of the raw materials, as well as the transparent communication of the impact parameters set our company apart from the competition..
Our focus is currently on the innovative application of noise protection. Accordingly, our formulations are optimized for use in this area, according to their acoustic and design function. We bring hemp-lime into interior design where it otherwise wouldn't be used, and develop our own formulations for creating highly effective sound absorbing elements.
After thorough deliberations we decided to pursue this field of application by considering the scaling opportunities, market barriers, market entry costs, strength of the USP, development time investment, customer pains, etc.
Since hemp is still a niche in Europe, we needed to find a creative approach to utilizing the available plant residue and keeping up with the limited supply of the hemp raw materials. Thus we are able to innovate and develop new products, validate them on the market and simultaneously build up the local capacities and strengthen and grow the resilience of the hemp biobased value chain.
Our whole-system approach can be scaled down to any related initiative.
The strategic deliberation about positioning in systems-thinking boundaries in the very early pre-seed stage has been crucial for the successful start of our project and the possibility to gain support and investment.
Further on our product and consortia concept can be replicated on each continent (except for Antarctica), since hemp is a crop that can be cultivated in each geographical region and brings in a high innovation potential.
Global warming is forcing us to rethink the way we build. The construction industry is responsible for a large part of the CO2 emissions and is therefore obliged to make a rapid contribution to climate protection. The economic policy goals that have been set at national and EU level define a CO2-neutral, sustainable direction. The construction industry is to evolve from a linear to a circular economy.
As part of the EU's climate strategy "Going climate-neutral by 2050", it is required to use the advantages of the bioeconomy and to create carbon sinks.
Initiatives such as the New European Bauhaus, the Austrian Circular Economy Strategy and the Global Sustainability Goals call on the construction industry to use sustainable building materials that can be produced taking into account material cycles in order to limit the exhaustion of non-renewable resources to drastically reduce CO2 emissions, enable the reuse of existing products and avoid the generation of hazardous waste.
As a result, the search for environmentally friendly and healthy insulation solutions is constantly increasing.
The most common insulation elements are made from petroleum. These products are energy-intensive and emission-intensive and are treated as hazardous waste at the end of their useful life, making them even more expensive due to ever-increasing disposal costs.
The selection of available sustainable alternatives in terms of products and chemical-free or plastic-free materials is still very limited. Another issue is the higher price of green products and their limited uses, e.g. due to fire safety. The high acquisition costs make customers hesitant and represent an important lever in this market.
The construction sector is innovative and risk-averse and implements innovations slowly and gradually.
Therefore, a quick, bottom-up sustainable solution is needed that is affordable, protects the private sphere, supports a healthy lifestyle and enables flexible living/working and building.
