Researchers build hemp-based concrete blocks

By Phil Carter

There’s nothing like this in the world

Marc Maguire, Ph.D. Assistant professor in the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction.

Imagine a day when plants are harvested to make construction blocks and supplement concrete. It’s a day not far from the future as a team of College of Engineering researchers led by Marc Maguire, Ph.D., have developed environmentally friendly concrete blocks made from a hemp-based composite.

The hemp-based blocks have nearly the same strength as concrete but weigh almost half as much. This means, according to the researchers, 260,000 acres of hemp could replace up to a billion pounds of concrete and testing of the compound revealed it removed 102 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents per square – nearly four times more than standard concrete mixes.

“There’s nothing like this in the world,” according to Maguire, assistant professor in the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction.

Maguire says the product is so similar to a concrete block, they want to make it a “one-to-one swap.” As of now, the hemp-based blocks:

• Provide increased sustainability over traditional blocks.
• The mix meets basic construction standards.
• Is a resilient material, more fire resistant according to recent testing.
• Meets the American Society for Testing and Materials’ standards for load-bearing masonry units for strength, water absorption and weight.

Moving forward, Maguire and his research team, supported by Global Fiber Processing and the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, are using 500 hemp-based blocks to construct full-scale walls in the Durham School’s structures lab located at the Peter Kiewit Institute on Scott Campus to conduct further testing on the concrete, including block strength and endurance, insulation capabilities and subjecting the hemp-based blocks to various weather conditions.