Hop fiber research
︎︎︎ for HopfON
Beer is made from hops, or more precisely from their fruiting body. The remaining parts of the plant have so far only been used to a limited extent, despite their extremely valuable properties. Studio Peipei's brief was to build on HopfON's already extensive expertise and work out the missing step towards industrial production. Traditional knowledge was combined with experimental approaches and adapted to the special properties of the harvest residues.
Hops belong to the hemp family and have some similar advantages: The climbing plant grows up to seven meters high in just two months and its long fibers are extremely stable thanks to their high lignin and pectin content. However, the fact that this material does not have to be specially cultivated stands out. In Germany alone, around 20,000 hectares of hops are grown annually for beer production. This generates tons of harvest residues, which are now finding a use.
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Hops belong to the hemp family and have some similar advantages: The climbing plant grows up to seven meters high in just two months and its long fibers are extremely stable thanks to their high lignin and pectin content. However, the fact that this material does not have to be specially cultivated stands out. In Germany alone, around 20,000 hectares of hops are grown annually for beer production. This generates tons of harvest residues, which are now finding a use.
One of the most important steps is separating fibres from shives. For all cultivated natural fibres, various approaches have been used for centuries, but today a chemical variant is the most popular. While the traditional method is time-consuming and requires constant monitoring, the modern approach is cost-intensive and leaves behind highly toxic substances.
Studio Peipei has tried environmentally friendly ways and found a new mechanical and a modified enzymatic solution. For mechanical processing, various prototypes were 3D printed and applied to pre-processed as well as untreated hop pieces.
The process developed by HopfON already enables the manufacture of a wide variety of products. The fiber processing methods researched by Studio Peipei are partial solutions for individual steps that have not yet been clarified and are aimed at industrial implementation.
The material samples shown here were created for internal verification of the steps and differ from the final products.
In addition to the fiber applications, a first product was also developed for the shives. In combination with a waste product from the construction industry as a binding agent, a wall element made 100% from waste can be produced. Since the binding agent can be used again and again, this product is even endlessly recyclable.
