Simonpietri Enterprises, a Hawaii-based and woman-owned business, has received $1.6 million from the U.S. Department of Energy for a project focused on generating hydrogen fuel out of construction and demolition waste.
“Treated, painted, and glued lumber and other organic waste from construction and demolition debris can’t be burned in a biomass power plant, so today most of it goes straight into landfills all across the U.S. — and Hawaii is no exception,” Joelle Simonpietri, president of Simonpietri Enterprises, said in a statement announcing the funding on Tuesday. “This idea, to make fuel out of construction and demolition debris rather than stick it in the ground, was born here in Hawaii to solve Hawaii problems: too many landfills that need to be expanded or relocated in these islands we call home, not enough local supply of renewable fuel to replace imported fossil fuels, and no local supply of renewable fuel that can be used in airplanes.”
The funding is part of $32 million being allocated to 15 companies across the country by the U.S. Department of Energy for research and development projects focused on hydrogen fuel development. Hydrogen can be used to produce electricity with only water and heat as by-products. Simonpietri Enterprises, based in Kailua, said it is the only Hawaii company to receive the funding.
Simonpietri Enterprises is co-developing the $2 million research project alongside the University of North Dakota, and together they will focus on using gasification technology to turn high-volume and highly contaminated waste into hydrogen. The project's long-term goal is to design and build five- to 50- megawatt equivalent plants to produce hydrogen for hydrogen hubs as well as for transportation fuel refining, according to Simonpietri Enterprises. The company will also investigate techniques to manage contamination from both trace metals and heavy metals, which is often found in large-scale demolition and construction waste.
The company is also currently working on a project with the University of Hawaii's Lyon Arboretum and local organization Papahana Kuaola to evaluate if Honolulu's invasive species can be used as feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel.
Earlier this year, Simonpietri Enterprises also received a $650,000 competitive innovation award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in which the company was acknowledged for its "Aloha Carbon" technology, designed to make jet fuel in a way that is cost-competitive with petroleum.
“For more than a decade, we have been leading the way in bringing renewable fuels to aviation, defense, transportation fleets, and other industries,” Simonpietri said in a statement. “To date with these research grants, we have completed trials on real-world waste, scaling up from pounds to tons and hours to weeks, proving that our process to make green hydrogen and components to manufacture [sustainable aviation fuel] continues to be technically feasible and meet our cost targets.”
