Global warming as a result of climate change has become a major concern for people all over the world. It has recently drawn the attention of the entire conscious community, with the fear that if not addressed properly, it will result in the extinction of numerous species around the world. At the same time, it will pose a threat to human health, food security, living environment and standard of living. Thereby, possible solutions are being explored accordingly; regulations have been imposed in places binding green production practices, limiting the emission of CO₂ and emphasis is given on renewable resources along with the search for alternatives to carbon-positive materials. Cannabis sativa L. (hemp) has received a lot of attention because of its multipurpose usability, short production cycle, low capital demand in cultivation, possibility of carbon-negative transformation and easy carbon sequestering material. This paper reviews hemp as a very promising renewable resource including its potential uses in paper, textiles, composites, biofuel, and food industry.

At present, environmental sustainability is a big concern due to the limited resources and the adverse impacts of petroleum-based materials. Green composites (GCs) attracted intensive research interest for the last few decades from academicians, scientists, researchers, and practitioners both from the ecological and economic point of view and are presently being considered as one of the most promising research domains. Composites produced from renewable and/or natural resources thanks to their biodegradability and sustainability properties are envisaged as the next-generation materials to meet the growing demand worldwide. GCs are intensively investigated due to their multifunctional properties and utilization in a wide variety of fields including automobile, marine, aerospace, structural and infrastructural applications, packaging, electronics industry, sports, and biomedical applications. They also show potentials to replace the expensive as well as non-degradable petroleum-based composites. After the shelf life, it can be disposed of easily without harming the environment. The processing techniques, properties, and applications of green composites are comprehensively assessed in this review article. The feasibility of the naturally available fiber and polymers for green composites are also discussed highlighting the existing challenges with possible suggestions. It was intended to present a full overview of biodegradable polymer composites reinforced with natural fiber, as well as the necessary future directions for the concerned researchers.

Antimicrobial resistance has emerged as a global health crisis and, therefore, new drug discovery is a paramount need. Cannabis sativa contains hundreds of chemical constituents produced by secondary metabolism, exerting outstanding antimicrobial, antiviral, and therapeutic properties. This paper comprehensively reviews the antimicrobial and antiviral (particularly against SARS-CoV-2) properties of C. sativa with the potential for new antibiotic drug and/or natural antimicrobial agents for industrial or agricultural use, and their therapeutic potential against the newly emerged coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Cannabis compounds have good potential as drug candidates for new antibiotics, even for some of the WHO’s current priority list of resistant pathogens. Recent studies revealed that cannabinoids seem to have stable conformations with the binding pocket of the M^pro enzyme of SARS-CoV-2, which has a pivotal role in viral replication and transcription. They are found to be suppressive of viral entry and viral activation by downregulating the ACE2 receptor and TMPRSS2 enzymes in the host cellular system. The therapeutic potential of cannabinoids as anti-inflammatory compounds is hypothesized for the treatment of COVID-19. However, more systemic investigations are warranted to establish the best efficacy and their toxic effects, followed by preclinical trials on a large number of participants.

Worldwide yarn diversity in terms of structure and properties has increased in recent years. Especially composite yarns produced by multiple components have become very preferable in both weaving and knitting sectors. Among these yarns, core and dual core-spun yarn are more prominent in some areas due to their particular performance. In this study, the structure and properties of plain, elastane cored, and elastane + filament cored composite yarns, which were spun by using cotton as sheath fibers, are comparatively investigated. With a constant Ne 16/1 linear density, a carded yarn production line with modified ring-spinning system was used to produce the composite samples using 5.56% elastane ratio for both and 13.79% polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) ratio for dual core. It was observed that the strength of the composite yarns decreased, while the elongation values at the time of breaking tended to increase. There was some deterioration in transition from plain yarn to dual core composite yarn in terms of unevenness and yarn defects, while some improvement was observed in terms of yarn hairiness. In order to dwell on the causes of this situation, the surface and cross-sectional images of the yarns were also studied.

Elastic structures are opted in denim fabrics to increase elasticity and recovery properties of fabrics as well as comfort properties. In this study, performance properties of denim fabrics were evaluated comparatively as tensile strength, tearing strength, air permeability, mass change, dimensional stability, seam slippage, fabric growth, and stretchability. 100% cotton, core-spun and dual-core spun yarns (Ne 16/1) used at weft direction of denim fabrics. 100% cotton ring spun yarns (Ne 13.5/1) were used as warp yarns at all produced three denim fabrics. All the test results were measured numerically and evaluated statistically with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). There was significant difference found among fabrics for the variation of weft yarn structures from the statistical evaluation. The impact of varying washing processes on the stretch and growth (%) of denim fabrics was also revealed. Core-spun yarn containing denim fabric showed more growth and stretch percentage in all forms of washing processes. It was also found that packing density of yarns had a significant effect on air permeability of fabrics.

In the textile sector, denim is one of the most iconic woven fabrics. The quality of denim fabric is influenced by several factors. For example, changes in the linear density of yarn might alter the projected fabric qualities, allowing it to fit current fashion market demands, which is the ultimate target of a textile product. The present investigation was designed to evaluate the impact of cotton sheath linear densities of core spun yarn (cotton/spandex) on performance properties like stretchability, tensile and tearing strength, weight, dimensional stability, pilling, and abrasion resistance of denim fabrics. Acquired results revealed that with the upsurge in the linear density of cotton sheath, several properties of the fabric, such as elongation and recovery percentage, tensile and tearing strength in the weft direction were improved because of the utilization of the variable linear density of sheath yarn in the same direction. Width-wise shrinkage and fabric weight were also decreased substantially. It was also found that increasing the sheath count enhances the denim fabric’s overall resistance to pilling.