Aloha Sustainable Materials Recycling and Fertilizer Facility gets DOE grant

In Hawaii, the U.S. Department of Energy has awarded Simonpietri Enterprises LLC a $206,500 grant to conduct research on producing organic fertilizer from locally-sourced green waste and wildfire-prone invasive plant biomass. This grant provides crucial funding to demonstrate the viability of Simonpietri’s idea to manufacture fertilizer in Hawaii from invasive and fast-growing plants like guinea grass and koa haole.

For the project, Simonpietri Enterprises has partnered with the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture (CTAHR), native Hawaiian plant nursery and landscape restoration organization Hui Ku Maoli Ola, and the Energy and Environmental Research Center of North Dakota (EERC). The Phase I research accomplished so far has taken invasive guinea grass from a wildfire prevention project done on O’ahu by Hui Ku Maoli Ola, and converted it to biochar and syngas for energy and fertilizer production at the U.S. DOE’s National Center for

The DOE grant is supporting physical testing for the Aloha Sustainable Materials Recycling and Fertilizer Facility (SMRFF) facility that Simonpietri Enterprises is developing in Kapolei to divert construction and demolition debris and other organic wastes from landfilling and burning, and instead use that material to make renewable energy, organic fertilizer, recycled-material building products, and other circular economy products.