Completed Projects
Biomass includes living things such as trees, grass and ocean plants, or the waste products of living things such as agricultural wastes and manure, and urban wastes such as garbage. Biomass energy offers a major renewable energy source that is readily available and would reduce dependency on fossil fuels for energy production.
Hawaii's tropical climate has an abundance of sunshine, and its ecosystem produces a wide variety of plants that thrive on intense solar energy. One of these plants, sugarcane, is very good at capturing the sun's energy. Bagasse, the waste remaining from the sugarcane after the sugar has been removed, is the largest source of biomass energy in Hawaii. Currently, bagasse is used to fuel combustion boiler systems that are about 25% efficient. The amount of electricity that can be produced from biomass (bagasse) power systems can be increased by 50% or more by replacing less efficient conventional boiler systems with advanced biomass gasifier/gas-turbine systems.
The design, construction, and initial operations of a biomass gasification facility near the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. mill in Paia, Maui was completed in December 1995. The feed system and other modifications, and two months of continuous operational testing was completed in 1997.
In 1998, the U.S. Department of Energy decided to discontinue funding to the program
Climate Change and Carbon Dioxide
The program focused on the development of carbon dioxide (CO2) atmospheric emissions control technologies-specifically, utilizing the deep ocean as a long-term repository for CO2 removed from hydrocarbon-fuel combustors.
In December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, the United States, Japan, and Norway signed an agreement at the Third Conference of the Parties (COP-3) meeting of the Framework Convention on Climate Change to conduct an international CO2 field experiment to evaluate ocean disposal and sequestration of CO2. The field experiment involved direct release of up to 20 metric tons of liquid CO2 into the ocean, at depths of about 800 m, over the course of one to two weeks.
Funding for the experiment was provided by the governments of Japan, the U.S., Norway and Canada. Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), a private corporation based in Switzerland, Australia and the Central Research Institute for Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI) of Japan are also contributing to the effort. About $5 million (U.S.) was committed for this experiment.
The project officially began when the international agreement was signed in December 1997 and ended in March 2003.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
PICHTR has been a leader in the continuing effort to extract energy from the ocean and other renewable systems. Recognizing that the oceans are the world's largest solar energy collectors, PICHTR has focused a great deal of effort on the development and implementation of this thermal resource into a sustainable energy system. With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the State of Hawaii and Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PICHTR has developed such systems through its Engineering Systems group including the design, construction, and operation of the world's only Open Cycle Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OC-OTEC) system located at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) at Keahole Point on the Big Island of Hawaii.
OTEC uses the temperature differences between the ocean's warm surface water and the cold deep sea water to produce steady, base-load electricity, fresh water, and air-conditioning options. Use of the cold, deep pathogen-free, and nutrient-rich sea water for aquaculture, mariculture, and agriculture clearly allows a description of OTEC as a life support system.
PICHTR is examining various opportunities in the area of open-ocean aquaculture where our expertise in ocean engineering could make a significant contribution.
PICHTR also tested a closed-cycle OTEC facility at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) under contract to the State of Hawaii. Sponsored by PICHTR, NELHA and HEI, Closed Cycle OTEC project main objective was to install an experimental land based CC-OTEC configuration for the testing of aluminum roll-bond heat exchangers manufactured by ALGOODS. The experimental plant was to provide baseline operational experience with potentially low cost aluminum heat exchangers and the basis for projecting and designing larger OTEC systems.
PICHTR was tasked by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to maintain the OC-OTEC Experimental facility open through December 1998; and, update their conceptual design of a small land-based OC-OTEC plant for the production of electricity and fresh water for Pacific Islands. In 1991 PICHTR, under the sponsorship of MOFA, documented the conceptual design for a 1.8 MW(gross) land based OC-OTEC plant for the production of electricity and fresh water. The MHI task was to update the design using information gathered at the OC-OTEC Experimental Facility since 1992. The conceptual design was to include technical specifications for the major OC-OTEC components that MHI is able to manufacture. These are the low density steam turbine and the pumps required to maintain the process vacuum by removing non-condensables (air and steam).
OTEC published in Marine Technology Society Journal
OTEC Summary Presentation by Luis Vega
Regional Executives and Supervisors Universal Leadership Training Scheme (RESULTS)
Since 1988, PICHTR's Education and Training Program (ETP) promoted regional cooperation by developing, implementing, and managing education and training programs that build indigenous expertise, leadership, and capabilities without compromising local customs and cultural values. ETP efforts produced a network of experts and resources throughout the Pacific Islands region.
Utilizing MOFA funding, the Consortium of Pacific Education
(COPE) was established in 1988 to serve as a forum for Pacific island nations
to address human resource development needs and concerns. A new training effort,
the Regional Executives and Supervisors Universal Leadership Training Scheme
(RESULTS) Program, was initiated in 1996 to provide management training certification
for island-based trainers in a wide range of Pacific island government and
private sector organizations. This regional program is designed particularly
for organizations responsible for infrastructure development, operations,
and maintenance, as well as for agencies involved in commerce and economic
development activities. The Program operated in seven Pacific
island nations: Cook Islands, Niue, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Samoa
and Federated States of Micronesia (Yap and Kosrae).
RESULTS is modeled on the highly effective Training Within Industry (TWI)
Program. The TWI Program is one of the oldest professional business training
programs in use today. Developed by the United States Government during World
War II, it was adapted in the early 1960's for implementation in the Pacific.
While the modern business environment in the developed world has changed considerably,
the TWI model continues to be very effective in introducing a core management-by-objective
philosophy to Pacific islanders. TWI has operated successfully throughout
Micronesia since 1993. RESULTS was introduced in the South Pacific in 1996.
The RESULTS Program encourages institutionalization by building local management training expertise -- a critical element of each island nation's human resource development effort. Indigenous island-based trainers must complete an intensive 5-year training regimen to obtain full TWI certification.
RESULTS training focuses on techniques to increase production, reduce costs, and encourage team building by improving key management skills: instructing (effective communication & training new and experienced workers); leading (motivating workers and building relationships); and improving methods (best use of staff, equipment, and materials).
RESULTS is designed to promote global partnerships between Japan, the United States, and the independent island nations of the Pacific. The island nations are active partners in RESULTS. The government leaders highly value the training, and each island contributes financial and in-kind support for its trainers.
