Hemp Therapies Wiki / Hemp Oil & Hemp Seed Oil

Industrial Uses of Hemp Oil

Beyond food and cosmetic use, hemp seed oil has a range of established industrial and commercial applications, largely tied to its chemical behavior as a drying oil.

Industrial and Commercial Applications

Cited industrial uses include lubricants, paints, inks, fuel and biodiesel production, soaps, and detergents. Hemp oil functions as a drying oil in wood-finishing products and varnishes because of its polymerizing behavior on exposure to air. Because of that same polymerizing ability, it is also cited as a binder in oil paints and as a plasticizer or hardener component in putty. Additional cited uses include plastics manufacturing and use as feedstock for large-scale biodiesel production.

Byproducts: Hemp Seed Cake and Meal

Mechanically pressing hemp seed for oil yields a solid residue known as hemp seed cake, also called meal, as a byproduct. This residual cake has historically been marketed as cattle feed, and has been identified as having potential for lawful use in commercial feed formulated for laying hens. Regulatory status for hemp as a feed ingredient has changed over time and should be checked against current guidance rather than assumed from older reference material.

Summary

Hemp seed oil’s industrial applications lean on its ability to polymerize into a solid film on exposure to air, which underlies its use in paints, varnishes, and putty, while the leftover seed cake from pressing has its own separate history as livestock and poultry feed.