Grant issued for Hawaii biofuels research

The US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded a $6 million (€4.9 million) grant to the University of Hawaii to increase locally produced renewable energy.

To be spread over four years, the University and its partners want to develop high-yielding biofuel feedstocks, establish advanced local biofuel production processes and guide the local supply chain.

The University is based at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) in Manoa.

‘This is a timely and essential issue and I expect this project to provide Hawaii and other tropical regions with information vital to developing sustainable renewable energy,’ says CTAHR professor Andrew Hashimoto.

The project will examine the use of fast-growing tropical grasses such as banagrass, sweet sorghum, energycane (a relative of sugarcane) and Napiergrass–pearl millet crosses for biofuel production, including testing and modifying harvesting and storage techniques for the feedstock grasses and optimising energy yields.

Hawaii currently meets more than 90% of its energy requirements through the use of imported fossil fuels and, despite almost non-existent heating needs, has the US’s highest energy costs.