Oahu Ethanol Corporation

From dKosopedia

Oahu Ethanol Corp. plans to have its Campbell Industrial Park facility ready to start producing ethanol in 2007, but will have to import molasses for refining since there isn't enough "feedstock" grown here. Sorghum, a plant with a high sugar content that makes it a good candidate for ethanol, will eventually be Oahu Ethanol's source but harvests are several years away.

In a March 15, Star-Bulletin article entitled, Ethanol producers not ready to fill mandate, Stewart Yerton reported:

KenKnight said that Oahu Ethanol is in talks with Kamehameha Schools and Dole Food Co. to help resolve another issue the company will face once its ethanol production facility is operable: how to grow huge amounts of sugary food crops that will be needed to produce the fuel.

Altogether, the company is aiming for 15,000 acres to grow sweet sorghum, which is used to produce a syrup traditionally used in the Southeastern U.S., where it is often grown. Initially, Oahu Ethanol wants 5,000 to 7,200 acres to get started, KenKnight said.

"These are just discussions, and I need to stress that," KenKnight said.

In the meantime, the company will import about $15 million to $18 million worth of molasses to refine into ethanol at a facility that KenKnight likened to a giant rum distillery.

[...]

Despite the need to import molasses for the short term, KenKnight said the ethanol policy and the projects that are coming online will enable Hawaii to replace a substantial amount of gasoline with a renewable fuel that can be grown here. And that creates new economic opportunities for local agriculture.

"The impetus for any return to agriculture on Oahu in terms of energy-fuel crops can only happen if you have an ethanol plant up and running," he said.

Daniel KenKnight is the chief executive of Oahu Ethanol Corporation.