Hemp Harvests works with farmers to produce, process and package fine-quality Tasmanian hemp. They sell their produce as hemp seeds, hemp flour, hemp protein powder or cold-pressed hemp oil. When Hemp Harvests wanted to establish a plant to process their wholly Tasmanian product, they turned to a local engineering firm, Metric Manufacturing, to help create a strategy and to source the best operating equipment available for hemp production.
Metric Manufacturing is an Australian-owned multidisciplined company that provides innovative engineering solutions to a broad range of industries. They are committed to using local businesses where possible and to delivering the best possible engineering solutions at an affordable price to all their customers.
The challenges of handling bulk hemp materials
Hemp is a rich source of digestible protein and is a sustainable alternative to animal farming and meat consumption. Hemp contains large amounts of vitamins, minerals, and fibre, all of which must be preserved during handling. Hemp is also anti-inflammatory and hypoallergenic.
Bulk handling of hemp presents a range of unique challenges due to the crop’s physical characteristics, regulatory considerations, and market variability. Key challenges include:
- Material characteristics – Hemp stalks are fibrous and can get tangled in machinery, causing blockages and wear. Hemp seeds can be fragile and need gentle handling to avoid product degradation or reduced yields. Because hemp can retain moisture, it can be sticky and prone to clumping. Hemp flowers and biomass have low bulk density, making them difficult to move efficiently without damage.
- Equipment compatibility – In addition to the need for gentle handling, such as the kind aero-mechanical conveyors provide, hemp dust is combustible, especially during drying or milling. This raises health and explosion risks, so dust containment is essential.
- Contamination and product integrity – High-value CBD hemp products require clean, food-grade handling. Improper handling can degrade terpenes and cannabinoids in flowers, reducing their market value.
- Regulatory compliance – When hemp is used in food and medicine, strict laws govern the allowable THC content. The need for full traceability from farm to processor adds complexity to bulk material handling systems, especially for certified organic or GMP-compliant operations.
- Market variability – Differences in moisture, size, or processing goals, depending on what part of the plant is being processed, require flexible, adaptable handling systems.
Requirements for hemp processing
Building the hemp processing plant from scratch allowed Floveyor’s partner, Metric Engineering, and Hemp Harvests to install the most efficient and advanced system available for hemp production.
The conveying system had to be reliable and able to transfer hemp seeds, with minimal degradation. It needed to have a small footprint, high energy efficiency, and a height ceiling of 7.5 m. An essential component was exceptional cleaning capabilities for dry and wet conveying, including clean in place (CIP). Any solution would need to integrate smoothly with bulk bag handling.
As the rest of the processing equipment had already been ordered, Hemp Harvests was also looking for speed of transfer, cost-effectiveness, and low power consumption to save costs and match the sustainability credentials of the company and product
Why a Floveyor AMC was selected for hemp production
Floveyor, Metric and Hemp Harvests settled on the best solution. Metric took the lead on the integration installation, and commissioning of the Floveyor-supplied equipment. The delicate nature of the seeds required a configured solution from the Floveyor team, based on the Floveyor Elementa F3 aero-mechanical conveyor (AMC) and a reusable bulk bag unloader. The conveyor had to be fit for conveying with exceptional wet- and dry-cleaning ability.
Floveyor configured the Elementa F3 conveyor that was perfect for conveying delicate hemp seeds without any product degradation.
A sample of the seeds was sent to the Floveyor R&D team in Perth, Western Australia, for testing. The testing process was video recorded, and results were sent to Hemp Harvest and Metric.
Choosing the Floveyor Elementa range with clean-in-pace capability and a reusable bulk bag unloader
Designed for compliance and quality assurance for low-risk, dry food stuffs, the Elementa range is the ideal solution for this application. As well as proving efficient at loading and transporting the seeds, the Elementa F3 minimised waste with negligible product retention between batches, increasing operational output.
The solution required a bulk bag handling integrated system to help Hemp Harvests safely manage reusable bulk bags. With clean in place (CIP) capability, regular cleaning of the system was quickly carried out between product lines, which include different types of products and other grades.
How Floveyor powder handling machinery and equipment added value to hemp production
- Handles fibrous material like hemp plants without tangles
- Provides gentle, high throughput conveying with a single machine for all the material types produced by a hemp plant
- Controls moisture and dust and prevents product contamination with fully enclosed tubes
- Suitable for food-grade and pharmaceutical-grade hygienic conveying
- Modular design interfaces with bulk material handling equipment like bulk bag unloaders, making it ideal for a new facility or upgrading of brownfield facilities.
Hemp production in action with Floveyor
Floveyor was quick to provide equipment, with a fast turnaround of two months from the point of ordering to delivery. The time from the initial contact between Metric and Floveyor to delivery was six months in total, for an efficient, economical conveying system that met all requirements. It worked accurately and reliably, and produced high output with low downtime.
No other solution could both handle the delicate, variable nature of hemp products and meet the strict cleaning requirements the process demanded.
Hemp Harvests is highly satisfied with their choice to use a Floveyor powder handling solution and have found it very simple to operate, with low after-installation maintenance.
Vertical conveying system from bulk bag unloader station.
Bulk bag unloader with enclosed spout for hemp processing.
A Floveyor bulk bag unloader for hemp production.
For more information about hemp production
If you need conveying machinery and bulk material handling equipment for your process, a Floveyor with FloDisc® Technology will optimise your powder handling. Contact us to learn more.