Does hemp create a pollutant by-product, as a fuel source?

Question

I'm looking to give ten points on a well-informed answer on this. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

A person recently asked me my thoughts on alternative fuel sources. Without hesitation, I replied with hemp, as hemp was a very natural and wealthy crop before prohibition. The person then asked me "well, wouldn't hemp pollute in some way?"

What is the answer to that question? What would the by-product be? I need this to be a scientific answer at best, and not a "the byproduct would be the munchies" response.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I guess to answer this question, I would need to know which part of the hemp plant you would be using for fuel.

The stalk is high in cellulose and can produce cellulosic ethanol.

Grain based ethanol utilizes fossil fuels to produce heat during the conversion process, generating substantial greenhouse gas emissions. Cellulosic ethanol production substitutes biomass for fossil fuels, changing the emissions calculations, according to Michael Wang of Argonne National Laboratories. Wang has created a "Well to Wheel" (WTW) life cycle analysis model to calculate greenhouse gas emissions produced by fuels in internal combustion engines. Life cycle analyses look at the environmental impact of a product from its inception to the end of its useful life.

"The WTW model for cellulosic ethanol showed greenhouse gas emission reductions of about 80% [over gasoline]," said Wang. "Corn ethanol showed 20 to 30% reductions." Cellulosic ethanol's favorable profile stems from using lignin, a biomass by-product of the conversion operation, to fuel the process. "Lignin is a renewable fuel with no net greenhouse gas emissions," explains Wang. "Greenhouse gases produced by the combustion of biomass are offset by the CO2 absorbed by the biomass as it grows."

The seed has a high oil content and can be refined into biodiesel or filtered and used straight as a fuel for diesel motors.

See: http://www.hempcar.org/petvshemp.shtml

I hope this helps!

Answer 2

By products would be the same as any other plant fiber which is burned. Most hemp does not contain cannabis. So you would expect that Co2 and particulates would be the by product.  Another name for particulates is soot. Also there would also be some very small amounts of other gases but it doubtful that you could measure them.