Innovative Textile Solutions from Agricultural By-Products

The textile industry is increasingly focused on sustainability and circular economy models, driving the search for eco-friendly alternatives to synthetic fibres. This study explores the valorisation of hemp shives, an underutilised agricultural by-product, as a renewable cellulose source for regenerated cellulose fibre production. Hemp shives were mechanically ground and subjected to alkaline extraction with aqueous sodium hydroxide, testing twelve process configurations across NaOH concentration (5 M and 10 M), reaction time (2–4 h), and temperature (80–130°C). Treated samples were chemically characterised to determine cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and ash content. The sample with the highest cellulose content was further treated with sulphuric acid for metal removal, and both samples were assessed for degree of polymerisation (DP) before proceeding to fibre spinning trials via NMMO dissolution and wet-spinning extrusion. The acid-treated sample showed severe thermal sensitivity and a highly degraded DP, preventing continuous fibre formation. The alkaline-only treated sample successfully yielded fibres, though processing was hindered by high dope viscosity, requiring manual extrusion, and the resulting fibres were structurally irregular and brittle. Cotton textile waste was identified as a candidate for future blending with hemp-derived cellulose to compensate for its low DP, and similarly alkaline-treated to make it processable for dissolution. It produced continuous fibres with superior mechanical properties compared to the hemp-derived samples. Overall, this work demonstrates the technical feasibility of extracting and regenerating cellulose from hemp shives, while highlighting that further optimisation of extraction, purification and spinning parameters is required for industrial scalability.