Cretes builds complete factory for
hemp fibres
Client
Natural Fiber from Lithuania is a young company founded by a group of investors with a background in the textile or related industry. The main activity of Natural Fiber is the growing and transforming of hemp for fibre applications. In 2019 the construction of a complete new factory for the processing of hemp stalks into fibres and residual products was completed; an investment of more than 8 million euro. Because of the specific knowhow and the wide experience in natural fibre processing, Cretes was selected as head contractor for the machinery.
Challenge
The factory was erected from scratch and Cretes supplied the ultramodern production line. The incoming hemp stalks are transformed into high end fibers, while the residual materials (shives and pellets) are used in various industrial branches. The focus of Natural Fibers is obtaining top quality hemp materials that can be applied in production processes for the textile, paper or nonwoven industry, but also as a raw material for construction or composite materials and even for biofuel.
Solution
Cretes designed a new processing line specifically for Natural Fiber. In a first phase the system has a throughput of on average 4 tons per hour of hemp stalks. The line has been conceived in such a way that in future phases the capacity can be increased up to 7 tons per hour. This will allow Natural Fiber to amp up the current annual capacity of 20.000 tons to 35.000 tons in the near future.
Why Valtech Group?
Sister companies Cretes and Valvan have been lead players for many years when it comes to natural fibre processing. For multiple decades Cretes has supplied machines for the separation and cleaning of fibres from flax, hemp or kenaf. Valvan is a world renowned reference regarding bale presses for this type of fibres, whereas Allhydro builds the hydraulic power packs for these presses. Finally Sedacta was involved for the programming and software development for the controls of this complex unity of machines. The project for Natural Fiber is another example of how the synergy between the members of the Valtech Group is continuously proven and intensified.
