Fibreglass composites used in automotive trims like boot liners can easily be replaced with hemp fibre composites, say CSIR researchers. This follows testing of fibres and materials developed at the Natural Fibre Hub in the Eastern Cape.
The Natural Fibre Hub is a joint facility of the CSIR and the Coega Development Corporation (CDC), featuring two factories in the Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ) outside the city of Gqeberha.
“It's a facility that produces different types of customised non-wovens, which can be used as a reinforcement in composites, and then we can use these as interior trim structures in automotives,” says the CSIR’s Dr Maya Mathew. “These are non-load bearing parts currently made from glass fibres and polymers, and the glass fibres can be easily replaced by plant fibres.”
She says the technical properties of hemp and other plant fibres are highly similar to glass, but they offer the added benefit of being lighter, leading to fuel savings. Hemp is also a renewable resource and sequesters carbon while growing.
These benefits, along with a rise in local hemp farming, led researchers to start the Grow-A-Car project in Coega. The project will create a new value chain of car parts in which local farmers, factories and everyone in between can actively take part.
“Earlier on, we had a lot of restrictions on the growth of hemp plants because of the connection to cannabis,” says Mathew. “But now the restrictions have been lifted, and we see that there's a lot of farmers, a lot of SMMEs, who are involved in growing these hemp plants.”
Andy Radford, who manages the Natural Fibre Hub on behalf of the CSIR and the CDC, says the process for growing a car part starts in the field, with fast-growing summer crops of hemp, which are naturally resistant to pests and weeds.
“The fibres grow for approximately two-and-a-half to three months,” he says.
Once they're harvested, the fibres lie on the ground to be retted, a process of semi-rotting that breaks down the harder lignins.
“Thereafter, it gets into a decortication process, which takes the fibre off the core or hurd, and is then ready to be bailed and brought to a facility such as ours,” he says. “Our facility cleans the fibre as well as cottonises it. Cottonisation turns the tough hemp fibres into a cotton-like form suitable for dry spinning.
"Once cottonised, it can be blended with plastic – typically 30% natural fibre and 70% plastic – and can be put through our non-woven line.”
From there, the non-woven product goes into a thermo-compression moulding process to shape it into the parts required by the automotive industry.
Prototypes and materials that are being developed at the Coega pilot facility, including a new boot liner designed for a specific vehicle brand, will undergo quality and durability testing at the CSIR’s Polymer Characterisation Facility and its Textile Testing Laboratory in Pretoria. These facilities, which are supported by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, ensure that products meet specific industry standards.
“We can test the properties of the non-wovens, like the tensile strength and water vapour permeability,” says Mathew. “We can look at the chemical composition, and the abrasion and peeling resistance of the fibres.”
While the boot liner prototype will be absorbed as a local product supplying a major automotive company, several other customised product lines are currently in development at the Natural Fibre Hub as part of the Grow-A-Car initiative.
“Effectively, it's linking the farmer, right through to the factory for the first time,” says Radford, adding that the project provides a platform for fundraising to take the project from the Eastern Cape to a national level.
"It will prolong the life of the auto industry in many respects, for the simple reason that it's ticking the localisation box,” he says. “It's also creating jobs, but primarily jobs in the field, where there are great opportunities.”
Mathew agrees that in the long run, the Grow-A-Car project will help revive both the agricultural and manufacturing sectors of the country. Plans are in place to set up community cooperative groups that will supply hemp to decortication plants, which will then feed into facilities like those at the Natural Fibre Hub.
While the Grow-A-Car initiative focuses on the automotive industry, Mathew and Radford say their facilities will also diversify to support other sectors over time.
"Currently, the Natural Fibre Hub processes hemp on a toll manufacturing basis for partners, and it will be fully commercialised and scaled as applications are developed in future," says Mathew.
The CSIR invites farmers and manufacturers to open discussions on new product lines for development and testing.
More information about our research, facilities and services: https://www.csir.co.za/what-we-do/chemicals-and-materials/nanostructures-and-advanced-materials.
Published 19 February 2026