Innovation Spotlight: Pilot biofuel processing complex in Hawaii and overseas plantation

January 10, 2013 06:21 PM EST By: Regina Ramazzini

TechConnect Innovation Tracker: Ohana Investments, a TechConnect Accelerator participant-Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit, Honolulu, HI, 2012

Ohana Investments was a great contributor to this year’s Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit’s Project Finance Challenge (PFC) in Honolulu, HI.

Dr. Masatoshi Matsumura explained the company’s interest in a pilot biofuel-processing complex in Hawaii, using high oil-content plants and a rotational farming method. The proposed complex would include byproduct facilities like waste-to-energy pellets for power generation, along with bio-plastic materials. His vision also includes biomass plantation projects, to be expanded in underdeveloped countries.

Ohana and Dr. Matsumura seek approx. 500 hectares of land in Hawaii for this project, which will consist of the pilot farm and facilities. Other plantations are to be located in Sri Lanka, Laos, the Philippines and other underdeveloped countries.

Dr. Matsumura, an advisor of Ohana Energy projects and one of the leading researchers in the bio-fuel area in Japan, feels that the primary role of the company is the introduction of innovations to the U.S. He has developed high quality bio-diesel fuel processing methods, which are highly anti-oxidative and posess cold flow properties, and methods for other high value bio oils. We spoke with the company’s director, Yukiyo Tetsumura, who she told us that since the conference, they have published a PCT (international patent) on moisture control methods of their biofuel technology. According to Tetsumura, “What we found most valuable about the PFC was the valuable advice we received from the review panel and the input from attendees in the audience.”

Ohana Investment Works, LLC was established in 2010, and is located in Honolulu, Hawaii. The company’s project team is applying for U.S. Agency for International Development, to help underdeveloped countries with biomass plantation development and a community model for self-sufficient energy.

For further information, please visit: www.ohanainvestmentworks.com.

 

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