With the heavily looming need to find an alternative source of cellulose outside of wood pulp, we began our analysis in understanding the primary categories of cellulose sources. Outside of wood, the primary categories are plants, bacteria, algae, and a particular sea animal. Exhaustive analysis demonstrates that the most sustainable and scalable category is plant-derived cellulose.

The Cellulogyx team performed a incredibly deep analysis of various plant options for the production of cellulose. Of those options, were hops, hemp, bamboo, flax, jute, kenaf, ramie, sisal, banana leaf, pineapple leaf, oil palm, and coir. After an analysis of crystallinity index, cellulose percentage, microfibril angle, Young’s modulus, tensile strength, and versatility in microclimate adaptation, hops and hemp (cannabaceae family) were simply unparalleled in their combined overall scores.

Simply answered – a lack of scaled supply chains and a lack of focus. To date, farmers have not had confidence in the purchasing interest of buyers so have not yet scaled farming activtities but have concurrently failed to focus on the required polymers; meaning that they have had an interest in farming industrial hemp but have been uneducated in the need of buyers to replace cellulose sources. Additionally, processors have been too focused on more basic products of animal bedding, hempcrete, etc, and have overlooked the global demand of alternative cellulose sources.

Depending on demand and concurrent purchase orders, Cellulogyx has a unique ability to turn on tens of thousands of acres. Our team members come from true “big ag” and are much more comfortable in large-scale farming than the small acreage positions typically found in the industrial plant fiber market today. Relative to processing, Cellulogyx has innovated processing techniques and, relative to typical batch-processing, maintains a continuous feed processing technique that allows for unprecedented throughput.

Simply put, it won’t be an overnight solution but as we work together with our customers toward 2025, 2030, and eventual 2050 goals, we will continue to scale facilities across key global markets to provide regionally-centric resources for truly sustainably sourced raw materials. Though our focus today is U.S.-centric farming operations, we have spent the last 3 years establishing global farm relationships to expedite scaled production.

We are providing a pilot program for our customers to begin introducing small amounts of hops/hemp-derived cellulose into their existing formulations as we all prepare for a much larger shift in coming years. A complete “rip and replace” approach simply does not make sense nor is it realistic for either our customers or an ability to supply volume at an appropriate scale.

Microfibrillated cellulose (aka MFC) is the result of a fibrillation process of the cellulose fibers, typically resulting from shearing. MFC is typically a term found within the category of nanacellulose.

Nanocellulose is a general term for different types of nano- and micro-sized cellulosic particles though candidly, is a term better researched outside the confines of this FAQ. That said, nanocellulose is arguably the future of manufacturing across an incredibly wide spectrum of products and use cases. Check back for upcoming blogs covering this topic in a much more thorough analysis.