Friday, October 21, 2016

HM3Energy Aims To Replace Coal With Logging Waste

Troutdale, Oregon-based cleantech startup HM3 Energy said this week that it has been working on technology which converts logging waste into a cleaner-burning replacement for coal. The company said that it has signed on a Japanese utility, New Energy Development Co., which has interest in siting a production plant using its technology in Oregon. The company, led by President and CEO Hiroshi Morihara, said it just completed a $4M demonstration plant in Troutdale, which converts "forest slash" into biomass briquettes. Those briquettes are apparently a drop-in replacement for coal. HM3 Energy sys it has been supported locally by Oregon BEST, the UDSA-SBIR program, and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, and Business Oregon.