Biodegradation of hemp woven geotextile in granular soil

Hemp production is increasing globally as sustainability gains importance. This study aims to develop environmentally friendly a new type of woven hemp geotextile and determine its biodegradability and service life for civil engineering applications. Soil burial tests which lasted one, four, and eight months were performed to deduce service life. Each time duration, three hemp geotextile samples, polypropylene (PP) based woven and nonwoven geotextiles were buried in the sand. The performance of hemp geotextile is compared with PP geotextiles after burial. Biodegradability was evaluated by weight loss, microscope photographs and tensile strength tests. Hemp geotextiles started to degrade after 8 months of burial time. The tensile strength of hemp geotextiles decreased as soil burial time increased. Hemp geotextiles become more brittle as their burial time increases. The biodegradability of samples is also determined from microscope photographs, which show partial biodegradation. PP geotextiles outperformed hemp geotextiles after soil burial.