Hawai‘i Biofuel Notes
These rough notes are maintained by
Ben Discoe
General
- State
DBEBT: Biomass is a good starting point
- UH Manoa
Hawai‘i Energy Policy Forum
- The Hawaii Clean
Energy Initiative (HCEI)
- A project of US DOE and State of Hawaii (DBEDT), launched Jan. 2008, "clean energy" may not
necessarily mean biofuels (although it is likely to include them)
- As of March 2008, it's not clear if HCEI will do anything besides
gather reports. In bureaucratic jargon, they are "seeking stakeholder
input for an integrated strategic energy analysis, planning, and
implementation function."
- The State, for it's part, does have a goal: "70% of energy needs
supplied by renewable resources by the year 2030 -reducing overall
consumption of crude oil by up to 72%"
- Most people are talking about sugar, ethanol, wood or other biomass, oil
palms, or jatropha.
- CTAHR says: "The oil palm has double the oil yield of jatropha, but
because the trees are so large, and expensive and laborious to harvest,
jatropha is a better investment, because it has the potential to produce
at least two crops a year, equaling out to the same production per unit
as the oil palm."
- Hawai`i Island
Energy Sustainability Plan, October 3, 2007 (full report)
Big Island
- Big Island Fuel Crops Project
-> Hawaii Biodiesel Consortium -> Hawaii Biocrude
- Originally a project of: South Point Propagation, was founded in
2004 and is a sole proprietorship owned by Ted Seaman ((808)
929-7181 Naalehu), setting up on a leased parcel of land in Pahala, Ka'u.
- Site describes the desire to research, primarily Jatropha, but also "will be looking at several
different crops that have been identified as excellent biofuel sources
and others that have yet to be examined closely."
- Related: The Hawaii Biodiesel Consortium (2006-2007) included Aloha
Green, Kam. Schools, HARC (Mike Poteet), ... had a plan put together
Sept. 2006. Contact: Bob Numbers (P.O. Box 26 Papa'aloa, HI 96780
895-3041)
- As of Mar. 3 2008, Ted and Bob say that the Project (and the
Consortium) is about to grow into something much bigger, called
Hawaii Biocrude, perhaps announced publicly by May 2008 - stay
tuned.
- There is not yet any connection between them and HCEOC, they are
pursuing different jatropha strategies.
- HCEOC
- As of October 2007, this organization "has been working with Jatropha for past 18 months on a 20-acre,
state-owned farm in Hilo." - $677k federal grants and $240k state grants in 2007-2008?
- "We have committed to producing 2,400,000 seedlings in three years'
time... Biogenetic engineer has been hired to help with the Hilo
operation. "
- Aloha Green LLC plans to buy the seedlings to produce
biodiesel (growing them around Onomea?)
- Director George Yokoyama says: Jatropha project is headed by Bob
Burkey
- Bob Burkey is with the
Hawaii Biotech
Tissue Culture Center: (966-9074, 16-204 Melekahiwa Place, Keaau,
96749)
- Their website talks only about orchids - no mention of the
jatropha work there, yet.
- BBob Burkey's own local farm is called
Kamuela Greenhouse/Specialty
Orchids (address on White Road, south)
- Value Added Foods and Fuels
- Engineer Stephen Finch, in Laupahoehoe, has an ongoing project (Ethanol
or Biofuels) "to develop an environmentally friendly Ethanol
facility."
- Ken Stokes reports:
"His pilot scale ethanol/butanol extraction plant is small, yet it can
run with sugar cane, sweet sorghum, food-grade sorghum, switchgrass, and
other types of carbohydrates. Finch’s pilot plant is a high tech method
of membrane technology, and does not require the use of distillation or
dryers. So, he can run it “off grid” due to the reduction in energy
requirements. This means you can produce your fuel quicker and at a much
lower cost. Finch can also separate the ethanol or butanol with oil and
sulphur. Oh, and, Finch knows fuels, having been involved with ethanol,
DME and butanol for 17years and having degrees in Food Process
Technology."
- Stephen P. Finch: Office: 808-962-6213 Mobile: 808-854-5908,
stephen@vafaf.com, 36-2270
Mamalahoa Hwy. Laupahoehoe, HI 96764
- Hamakua Biomass Energy
- Announced on Feb. 29 2008, formed by Kent Smith, Hilton Unemori and
Guy Gilliland, who were co-developers of wind farms on Maui and Kauai.
No website yet.
- "A 30 MW biomass combustion power plant, which means it'll burn wood
to create energy."
- The group is in the process of securing land and expects to be in
operation by the third quarter of 2010.
Maui
- The $61 million BlueEarth Maui Biodiesel LLC refinery on Maui
- Set to open in
2009. In a partnership with HECO, it would generate 40 million gallons of
biodiesel from imported vegetable oils in its first year for Maui Electric
Co.
- Company's page:
BlueEarth Maui Biodiesel Project
- The controversy seems to be about the source of raw materials, not about
building the refinery. Local environmentalists fear rainforest
destruction for palm oil plantations. The company has said they will
adopt strict guidelines on the source countries, and plan to ultimately
source their oil locally.
Kaua‘i
- The island's power coop, KIUC, is aggressively moving to include
biofuels in its power mix.
- Green Energy Hawaii /
EcoPower Hawaii /
PowerPlants Hawaii
- Eric Knutzen's Green Energy Hawaii will generate 6.4
megawatts (10% of Kauai's power needs) by gasification/thermal oxidation
of wood chips from Bill Cowern's Hawaiian Mahogany
(HMI).
- 2006.05.27 -
Seeing energy in the trees
- The controversy seems to be about them growing Albizia, an
aggressive 'weed' tree. But the company says that by creating a
demand for wood, they could actually contribute to reducing
weed trees around the island: "Because Albizia is viewed as a pest,
Cowern said Hawaiian Mahogany will also harvest trees from other
people’s lands for a small fee, and send it on to Green Energy Hawaii."
- 2008.01.23 -
Biomass plant hinges on tree type
- 2008.02.28 -
County Planning Commission Approves Biomass Plant (it says 7.1 MW)
- Green Energy Hawaii has also planted oil palms.
- EcoPower Hawaii is another company partnered with HMI,
focused on biodiesel.
- PowerPlants Hawaii is another company partnered wit HMI,
building greenhouses to do oil palm research. It also says they
are developing "solutions to resolve Hawaii’s dependence on fossil fuels
for fertilizer and energy through the utilization of charcoal produced
locally from plant-based materials as a permanent soil additive."
- HMI is also looking at biodiesel
- "HMI has also already planted thousands of oil palm trees for the
production of palm oil to be used in producing high quality biodiesel
fuel."
- However since the HMI
website is broken (all links lead to filler page) it's hard to find
out more
- There is a very cool
video on YouTube of
Bill Cowern about Albizia lumber, oil palm, even cutting-edge biochar (!)
- Cleaves & Company
- will relocate an existing
4.5 megawatt
biomass-to-energy plant to Kauai, temporarily utilizing waste walnut shells
be shipped from California to Kauai in bulk until local biomass is
available.
- as of 2008-03-11, deal is off?
- eGenesis Industries
- The first Eprida licensee, they
are proposing to build a larger version of the Eprida research machine,
at an estimated cost of $4 million, capable of 1 megawatt/hour,
biodiesel, and 400-800 lbs enriched biochar/day.
- Their FAQ specifically mentions Kaua'i as a proposed site!
"Without utilizing [a] tax credit, the Eprida machine just on energy and
sales of fertilizer should pay itself off in three years in Kauai."
Presumably this is being considered by the Green Energy / PowerPlants
Hawaii folks above.
Oahu
- HECO plans
110 MW
biofuel plant to open in '09 in the Campbell Industrial Park
- There is a small, existing, waste oil to biodiesel conversion plant,
as of 2007.
- At the UH Hawaii Natural Energy
Institute (HNEI)
Renewable Resources Research Laboratory, they are doing work with "flash
carbonization" to turn any organic waste into charcoal, which will burn
cleanly and offer many other advantages.
- Claim: "Charcoal would be a better choice than ethanol for the
sustainable production of electric power here in Hawaii: [..] a ton of
corn stover will deliver 37% more energy if it is
converted into charcoal instead of ethanol."
- Claim: "The cost of producing a ton of charcoal in the USA is
usually much less than $200"
- Claim: "The Biocarbon Fuel Cell has the potential to convert the
chemical energy of carbon into electric power with an efficiency
approaching 100%"
- CTAHR biodiesel research has jatropha fields on the North Shore.
Head researcher in 2007: Richard Ogoshi.
- Hawaii Agriculture Research
Center (HARC) is a nonprofit in Aiea, Oahu
- September 2006: "Biodiesel Crop Implementation in Hawaii" by M.D.
Poteet of the HARC
(PDF 2 MB) - a long, excellently detailed presentation of every
possible bio oil crop
- the HARC website doesn't say anything about biofuels
Media coverage
- 2007.07.06 - Maui News,
HECO
sees a potential for local-grown biofuel
- Hawaiian Electric Co. says there are at least 140,000 acres of land
in the islands that were once farmed but are now fallow.
- 2007.07.22 - Star Bulletin,
Tree holds
promise for future of biofuel
- UH hopes to grow an isle biofuel source to re-energize Hawaii's
agriculture industry
- "Mike Poteet, a crop scientist with the Hawaii Agriculture Research
Center, believes biofuels have the potential to create a new agriculture
industry in Hawaii."
- "Steiner is leading a UH-Hilo effort to begin research in growing
different types of oil palm on 120 acres of land in Pa'auilo on the
Hamakua coast."
- 2007.08.07 - Star Bulletin,
HECO plans
biofuel plant to open in '09
- HECO will build the $142.3 million facility on Oahu beginning early
2008.
- Will run exclusively on renewable fuels made from ethanol or
biodiesel.
- 110 MW, joining the 1700 MW already on Oahu.
- 2007.10.04 - Pacific Business News,
Big Isle gets biodiesel grant
- 2007.10.09 - Tribune Herald, "Energy jobs for Big Isle"
- Energy jobs for Big Isle Tuesday, October 9, 2007
9:20 AM HST
by Jason Armstrong Tribune-Herald Staff Writer
A private nonprofit agency in Hilo stands to receive nearly $1 million
in grants to grow a crop expected to power cars and electrical plants.
The Hawaii County Economic Opportunity Council plans to
clone and mass cultivate Jatropha curcas seedlings under a $677,000
federal grant. "This grant will create jobs for about 70 people on the
Big Island and provide needed information about the potential for
Jatropha cultivation as a biodiesel resource," said U.S. Sen. Daniel
Akaka in a written statement announcing the grant award. "This project
is an important step forward in our vision for a self-sustaining energy
future for Hawaii and our goal of significantly reducing greenhouse gas
emissions," he added. Akaka said the development of alternative energy
sources is Hawaii's best hope to reduce its use of foreign oil. The
crop, if successful, also could lower the Big Island's fuel and
electricity prices, which remain among the nation's highest.
Jatropha curcas, also known as Barbados nut or Physic nut, is a
shrub that originated in Central America, according to Wikipedia. Its
seeds produce oil that can burned in combustion engines, but is not
suitable for eating. HCEOC has been working with the
crop for past 18 months on a 20-acre, state-owned farm in Hilo, said
Executive Director George Yokoyama. "We have committed
to producing 2,400,000 seedlings in three years' time," he said. A
rented warehouse in the Shipman Industrial Park is being used for the
cultivation work. Aloha Green, a Big Island company,
plans to buy the seedlings to produce biodiesel, Yokoyama said. "We're
thinking of electricity," he said of the energy goal. Others are
thinking of the crop, too. Jatropha curcas is now being grown
in India, Africa, South America and Asia, he said. "We're ahead of
them," Yokoyama said, adding an internationally known biogenetic
engineer has been hired to help with the Hilo operation. Yokoyama said
cloning the best plants and then growing them should result in two to
three harvests a year, compared with a single crop in other countries.
"We're getting inquiries from Italy, Germany (and) Spain, you know, for
our improved Jatropha seedlings, and we're going to export that in
flasks -- small seedlings in flasks -- so the market is worldwide now,"
he said. The operation is expected to create employment for 15 culture
laboratory technicians, five field-researcher technicians, 30 laboratory
and field-equipment operators and 20 field workers. Yokoyama said he
hopes to hire welfare recipients, noting he's already working with the
state Department of Human Services to find candidates. He's also
expecting $240,000 that this year's state Legislature approved for the
research project. "It's going to be released by Oct. 31," Yokoyama said
of the money awaiting Gov. Linda Lingle's signature before it may be
spent. "I got 'em in writing."
- 2007.12.12 - Financial Times,
Shell bets on algae to make biodiesel
- Shell hopes to build a commercial plant producing biodiesel from
algae in two years' time, following the launch yesterday of a joint
venture with Hawaii-based HR Biopetroleum to develop a research project
in Hawaii.
- 2008.01.23
- There is a bill in the State House of Representatives,
HB3442, to
grant HCEOC $500k or so for: "renewable energy project ..establish an
assembly plant to fabricate components to build rechargeable,
battery-powered automobiles, or vehicles operated without an internal
combustion engine, gasoline tank, or radiator that will run silently at
a speed of sixty miles per hour, and will require a battery replacement
only once everyone hundred and twenty miles. The project shall also
assemble three-kilowatt-hour electric power storage batteries that will
incorporate the rechargeable battery and solar thermal energy that will
simultaneously provide power and hot water for household use."
HB3442_Status
- 2008.02.28 -
Ha
Ha Ha blog
- "There was a talk on
jatropha this week—its use for biodiesel, and its place as part of
the solution to importing oil for transportation. We were told about a
company working on cloning a high-yielding jatropha plant that is
uniform in stature, so it lends itself to mechanical harvesting. They
have plans to grow millions of jatropha plants. The speaker said
Kamehameha Schools is planting 2,500 acres of jatropha plants in Ka’u.
He said there are 130,000 acres of land on the Big Island suitable for
jatropha cultivation."
Blogs
Other Companies & Organizations
- BlueEarth Biofuels and
Pacific Biodiesel are two different
large companies that build and operate plants.
- Aloha Green LLC is a
nursery business in Onomea, with a mission "to serve as a positive catalyst
for economic-sustainability and revitalization of the Village communities
along the Hamakua Coastal Region".
- HCEOC (Hawaii County Economic Opportunity Council)
- No website. Are they state-wide or just Hawai'i County? They regularly receive large grants from the State government to set
up programs, often to give jobs to the unemployed and welfare
recipients.
- 47 Rainbow Dr Hilo, HI 96720, (808) 961-2681, George Yokoyama is at
hceocgy@hawaii.rr.com
Wood
- How about just burning wood/biomass super-cleanly at the household
level, with gasification?
- woodgas.com sells
a small unit for $55, but it seems underpowered and meant for camping, not
serious household use.
- Who sells serious household gasification units?