An Italian startup company Kanesis invented the hemp 3D printed filament known as the HempBioPlastic filament. Kanesis is an Italian startup company in Sicily which has been engaged in refining its 3D printing filament and recently filed for its patent.
First, let’s discuss a few facts about hemp. Hemp has been used to make fiber, cloth, and ropes due to its versatile nature but due to its biological proximity to marijuana, the production of hemp has suffered a major decline in the last hundred years. But now, this decline has raised concern among environmentalists and researchers all around the globe as hemp can be used to manufacture natural green decomposable plastic.
HempBioPlastic is an environment-friendly plastic that can be fully decomposed and 20-30% stronger than PLA a material used for 3D printing, and more efficient than other bioplastics in the market. The hemp filament is extremely strong and has high resistance to warping which would make it suitable for industrial applications. Further, it has a low producing temperature and low energy usage which makes it environment-friendly. The wood-like appearance of hemp is a great aesthetic advantage and it can also be used for artistic designing.
Kanesis aims to use HempBioPlastic for industrial uses that go beyond 3D printing and hence, started a crowdsourcing campaign through Indiegogo on 17th May, to keep up the ongoing project. Giovanni Milazzo and Antonio Caruso, Kanèsis co-founders stated that they did not want to stop at that stage of the project where things looked bright and promising. They further said that their efforts would be pioneers in inducing changes in the entire industry to start the usage of hemp for manufacturing and design application replacing petrochemical materials.
The young entrepreneurs finally stated that it was not just a fundraising campaign but also a cause for environmental concern.

Source: 3ders.com