Panda Biotech To Cottonize Hemp Fiber On Commercial Scale
Dallas-based Panda Biotech has selected Wichita Falls, Texas, to be the home of its largest industrial hemp processing center in the United States. The Panda Texas Plains Hemp Gin will also be the first facility in the nation to cottonize hemp fiber on a commercial scale for the American textile industry and export customers. In addition, Panda Biotech’s Hemp Gin is, according to the company, likely the only facility in the world dedicated to both the processing and cottonization of hemp fiber in industrial quantities outside of the People’s Republic of China.
Panda Biotech has contracted for a 500,000-square-foot facility and surrounding 97-acre campus that was formerly the home of General Motors’ Delphi assembly plant.
The company plans on installing the largest industrial hemp decorticating, or processing, equipment ever used to separate the outer bast fiber from the inner woody core, or hurd. Panda Biotech’s top mechanical engineers worked with a leading international equipment manufacturer to “super-size” their existing line of decorticators. At full production, the two 10-ton/hour decorticators are expected to process close to 300 million pounds of Texas-grown industrial hemp per year. The fiber will be refined for textile applications, and the hurd will be processed for a variety of industrial purposes. Panda estimates the two decortication lines will generate approximately $30,000,000 per year for Texas farmers. You can check the weblink to know more about synthetic protein development for skeletal and cardiac muscle regulation.
The first processing line is currently being manufactured and is on schedule for delivery in December of 2020. Panda Biotech expects its Wichita Falls facility to commence partial operations in Q1 2021 and both lines to be fully operational by Q1 2022. Panda will fill contracts with Texas agricultural producers in the region for the 2021 growing season.
The only U.S. facility dedicated to commercial hemp cottonization
The Panda Texas Plains Hemp Gin represents a significant advancement in the domestic supply chain for textile-grade hemp fiber as it is the first and only facility in the United States dedicated to both the decortication and degumming, or cottonization, of hemp fiber on a commercial scale. The “cottonization” process removes the lignin that binds hemp fibers together in bundles and “opens” them for further refinement. Once “cottonized,” the hemp fiber is ready to be seamlessly blended with other natural or man-made fibers — such as cotton, silk, wool and polyester — and spun into yarns that will be knit or woven into fabric.
Panda Biotech has successfully cottonized hemp fiber decorticated on smaller versions of the equipment to be installed later this year on its Wichita Falls campus. The fiber was subsequently spun into yarn, knit into fabric, printed, and cut and sewn into fully finished, high-end apparel.
The company is working with a number of well-known brands to develop yarn blends in multiple counts, from 8s — 40s, for sustainable and innovative textiles that will use Panda Biotech’s proprietary cottonization process. Panda is also in discussions with industry leaders in the construction and composite sectors for the purchase of hurd.
At full production, Panda Biotech expects its Wichita Falls facility to annually produce more than 35 million pounds of apparel-grade, cottonized hemp fiber suitable for use in a variety of yarns for knit and woven textiles.
Panda Biotech Seeds Texas’ Hemp Industry
In the lead up to the Wichita announcement, Panda Biotech helped to jumpstart the Texas hemp industry by donating 60 tons of free hemp fiber seed to Texas agricultural producers in May of this year. Producers subsequently planted hemp fiber fields in every agricultural region across Texas. Panda donated the seed to help farmers gain valuable experience from their first trial crop of industrial hemp including an understanding of how the hemp seed responded to their local soil and climate conditions.
Panda Biotech created their seed donation program in close collaboration with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. Producers who voluntarily provide data on their planting and harvest will receive Panda Biotech’s Research Summary Report that will be prepared by Texas A&M AgriLife to help ensure the 2021 Texas industrial hemp harvest reaches its full potential.
