Panda Biotech’s first large-scale industrial hemp gin has completed construction, and the commissioning process has begun. The first mover in the emerging United States industrial hemp fiber and hurd industry announced that once completing the commissioning process, its 500,000-square-foot facility in Wichita Falls, Tex., will commence commercial operations in the first quarter of 2024. “Each piece of the Panda Hemp Gin production line—including the three miles of overhead pneumatic duct lines, refining, blending, mechanical cottonization, hurd bagging and storage, bailing and more—must be individually started, checked, balanced and commissioned,” Scott Evans, Panda Biotech executive vice president, said. “Currently, all equipment is individually being brought online to be officially placed in service.” The Panda Hemp Gin will process 10 metric tons of industrial hemp an hour to produce textile-grade fiber, hurd, short-fiber hurd mix and a co-product set to be pelletized. The company said its industrial hemp gin is set to be the largest in the Western Hemisphere and one of the biggest hemp decortication centers in the world. However, the facility has hit several road bumps since its announcement in 2019. The Dallas-based company first expected the facility to begin operations in the first quarter of 2021 and be fully up and running by the first quarter of 2022. Various setbacks pushed that date back a full year. In April, Panda Biotech announced a landmark equity partnership between the Panda High Plains Hemp Gin (PHPHG) and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe Growth Fund, which is owned by the federally-recognized Native American tribe—contributing to a then-anticipated fourth-quarter 2023 launch. “It took a while for us to find the right partner,” Mark Dsa, business development of Panda Biotech, previously told Sourcing Journal regarding the delays. “Because what we wanted was not just someone who would come with the money, but someone who had the right mindset, aligned with our values and understood exactly where we were going.” The Panda Hemp Gin’s engineering and production processes have been certified green by Mid-South Engineering Company and the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles, for exclusively using renewable energy sources. The Oritain partner is currently signing contracts with hemp producers to grow feedstock for the 2024 season as well as buying hemp fiber that’s already been harvested and processed. The company also launched an “unmatched” pay-to-grow platform for producers to start growing Panda hemp. Those producers also received tested-and-proven seed at no cost—similar to when Panda Biotech donated 60 tons of free hemp fiber seeds in 2020 to Texas agricultural producers to jumpstart the industry.
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