étoupe de chanvre

CONT: The preliminary mechanical processing of the dried [hemp] stalks involves some fairly vigorous handling of the raw material, including breaking, scutching and the separation of the line fibres from the tow and other by-products. The stronger, more solid fibre bundles keep their original lengths and parallelism. During breaking and scutching the weaker and shorter fibres (tow), especially those at the foot of the stalks, break away and are removed together with the hurds, dust, soil, etc. ... The hurds are removed pneumatically and may be sold for use as natural fertiliser, for the heat insulation of buildings, as fuel or as animal litter ... The hemp tow is then passed through a conveyer drier that can use either hot or cold air.