By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Columnist

Hawai'i farmers have long grown fuel in the sugar fields, burning cane stalks as fiber in power plants. But they've also known of another fuel they could grow: ethanol.

While it has not been a major end product of sugar in Hawai'i, some countries grow a lot of their fuel in the sugar fields by converting cane products into alcohol. The form known as ethanol can be blended with gasoline.

You can buy a gasoline-ethanol mix — normally nine parts gas to each part alcohol — in most Mainland states, and use it in any gasoline engine without a loss of performance, according to ethanol experts.

A conference Thursday at the Ala Moana Hotel will look into the possibility of developing an ethanol industry in Hawai'i that brings together national figures with local farmers, waste management experts, investors, fuel distributors and environmentalists.

Energy independence

Ethanol can be made from sugar, corn or even municipal waste. Combined with gasoline, it can reduce the state's need for imported fossil fuels, increasing its energy independence. Ethanol blends also reduce emissions.

Last year, 1.77 billion gallons of ethanol were produced in 20 states, mostly from corn.

The 1994 report "Ethanol Production in Hawai'i" notes that ethanol from cane originally required using the sugar and molasses, which were worth more as food. Newer technologies provide cost-effective ways to make ethanol out of the cane's low-value fibrous material.

"Where one acre of sugar cane produces about 10 tons of edible sugar and three tons of molasses, it also produces (in the form of leaves and stalks) an additional 21 to 25 tons of nonedible materials," according to the report.

It is also possible to produce ethanol from energy grasses, tree crops, or even waste paper, the report says.

State interest

Two years ago, the state passed an ethanol investment tax credit that offers a maximum of $4.5 million in credits per ethanol-producing facility.

The Fuel Ethanol Workshop is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Pacific Regional Biomass Energy Program, City and County of

Honolulu, state Department of Agriculture, state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, state Department of Health, Hawai'i Natural Energy Institute, JN Automotive Group, and Honolulu Clean Cities.

For information about the workshop, call Maria Tome at the state Energy Division, (808) 587-3809 or mtome@dbedt.hawaii.gov.

Jan TenBruggencate is The Advertiser's Kaua'i bureau chief and its science and environment writer. Reach him at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.