Biomass
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Woodchips and other woody material can be burned to produce heat, steam or electricity (i.e. energy produced via combustion).Farm products such as corn, sugarcane molasses, agricultural residues, or energy crops can be used to produce heat or used as transportation fuels (processes include combustion, fermentation, and gasification).
Vegetable oils may be converted into diesel fuel substitutes (via transesterification). Algae could also produce fuel and fuel feedstocks. Gases formed by waste materials and decaying biomass can also be collected and used as fuel (i.e. methane produced via anaerobic digestion).
Biomass for Hawaii
Bioenergy Master Plan
It will take the effort of many knowledgeable people, working together, to determine if and how bioenergy could provide benefits to Hawaii's citizens, economy, and the environment. See presentations; provide input; view upcoming events.
Potential for Ethanol Production in Hawaii Report
The "Potential for Ethanol Production in Hawaii" report prepared by the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute is on-line at http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/energy/publications/ethanol-hnei-06.pdf.
Biodiesel Crop Implementation Report
The "Biodiesel Crop Implementation in Hawaii" report prepared by the Hawaii Agricultural Research Center for the Hawaii Department of Agriculture is on-line at http://www.hawaiiag.org/hdoa/newsrelease/06-11.htm.
Hawaii County Biodiesel Report
In 2004, the County of Hawaii prepared a Biodiesel Report (32 pages, 305 kb) with Appendices (63 pages; 9 Mb).
Bioenergy Workshop
The Hawaii Agriculture Bioenergy Workshop was held on October 27, 2006 in Honolulu. Workshop organizers included the Hawaii State Departments of Agriculture and Business, Economic Development, and Tourism (DBEDT); U.S. Department of Agriculture - Rural Development; the University of Hawaii's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources; the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute; Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO); and the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum. Sponsorship funding was provided by HECO, Hawaii Energy Policy Forum, DBEDT and the U.S. Department of Energy. Presentations are available from the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum website: http://www.hawaiienergypolicy.hawaii.edu/pages/reports.html
Biofuels Briefing Book & Summit Report
Biomass Analyses
- The report, Physicochemical Analysis of Selected Biomass Materials in Hawaii, was completed in 2005. Samples of eight tree species, bagasse, and cane trash were collected from across the state and subjected to proximate, heating value, and ultimate analyses; ash samples were analyzed for Si, Al, Ti, Fe, Ca, Mg, Na, K, P, S, Cl, and C (as CO2);ash deformation temperatures in both oxidizing and reducing environments were measured; and particle size distribution and bulk densities of chipped wood samples were determined.
- The report, Preliminary Gasofication Testing of Eucalyptus Fuels, was completed in 2005. Biomass from debarked Eucalyptus grandis was used as fuel in a gasification test conducted in a benchscale, fluidized-bed gasifier by the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute at the University of Hawaii. The concentrations of H2, CO, CH4, and C2H4 were determined to be 5.9%, 15.2%, 4.3%, and 1.5%, respectively, with a corresponding higher heating value of 5.4 MJ per m3 (146 BTU per ft3) at 1 atm, 273 K.
Biomass Resource Assessments
The Hawaii Natural Energy Institute completed two biomass resource assessments in 2002:
- Analysis of Hawaii Biomass Energy Resources for Distributed Energy Applications (76 pages; pdf file; 1,146 kb).
- Biomass and Bioenergy Resource Assessment for the State of Hawaii (44 pages; pdf file; 1,787 kb).
Electricity from Refuse Derived Fuel, H-POWER, Oahu
H-POWER (Honolulu Project of Waste Energy Recovery), the City and County of Honolulu's "garbage to energy" plant, is burning refuse-derived fuel to provide electricity which is sold to Hawaiian Electric Company. Materials which do not burn, such as glass and metal, are removed and may be recycled. The plant produces approximately 8 percent of Oahu's electricity and, since it began operations in May 1990, has processed about 600,000 tons of waste per year, generating electricity which would otherwise have required about 600,000 barrels of oil per year.
Electricity from Landfill Gas
During the 1990s, methane collected from the Kapaa landfill on Oahu was burned to produce electricity. Heat from the turbine exhaust was used to dry gravel.
Biomass from Sugar
Sugar factories in Hawaii burn bagasse to provide steam for sugar processing and the generation of electricity. Electricity not needed for factory operations is sold to local utility companies. Ethanol made from sugarcane molasses has been produced in Hawaii and mixed with gasoline to produce fuel for automobiles. More information and historical data on sugarcane is available from the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center (formerly the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association).
The sugar plantations on Kauai (Gay and Robinson) and Maui (HC&S) have a capacity to produce a combined total of about 46 Megawatts of power from biomass. Most of this is used internally by the factories for sugar processing.
Although the sugar plantations on the islands of Oahu and Hawaii are no longer in operation, there are "diversified agriculture" crops being planted -- coffee, macadamia nuts, watermelons, trees, flowers, and many others. Waste products from these operations (and possibly even "energy crops") as well as wood chips, grease trap waste, and other biomass materials, enable continued electricity production from biomass at these locations. However, when enough biomass is not available, fuels such as coal or petroleum are used.
Biodiesel from Vegetable Oil, Maui and Oahu
Used cooking oil is converted into biodiesel at Pacific Biodiesel facilities on Maui and Oahu. The biodiesel production facility on Maui can produce 150,000 gallons per year (2004); the Oahu plant output is 400,000 gallons per year. Biodiesel may be blended with regular diesel and used in existing diesel engines in trucks, buses, boats, and stationary gensets.
Experts
With a wide range of growing conditions, soil types, weeds, and pests -- and over a century of experience in using biomass for power and fuel production -- Hawaii's world-class engineers, agronomists, pathologists, foresters, entomologists, microbiologists, environmental specialists, chemists, economists, researchers, and others have developed an extensive base of knowledge and experience in both high-tech and low-tech approaches to cultivation, pest control, propagation, and thermal and chemical processing and conversion of a wide variety of plant species. Contact the experts at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute or the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center.
Pacific Regional Biomass Energy Program
Hawaii is a partner in the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Regional Biomass Energy Program with Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. The program's mission is to use its unique state, local, and other networks to provide information, technical and other assistance; to mitigate barriers; and to develop and deploy bioenergy technologies for the improvement of regional environments and economies.
Incentives
The State of Hawaii encourages development of renewable sources of energy, including biomass, and offers a number of tax and policy incentives to advance the use of renewable energy. Tax incentives for alternative transportation fuels include a corporate income tax credit for ethanol production, an exemption from the 4% excise tax on retail sales of gasohol, and reduced tax rates for alternative fuels.
The state also provides generous business investment and research and development incentives for qualified high technology businesses in the area of "nonfossil fuel energy-related technology." Additional benefits are available for qualifying businesses located in Enterprise Zones.
Reports
For a list of reports, by year, see the Complete list of on-line publications
Links
The U.S. Department of Energy's "Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy" website - http://www.eere.energy.gov/ - has information on renewable energy for homeowners, businesses, kids, teachers, and the general public, as well as links to national laboratories and financial opportunities.