By Michael Markrich Copyright 2022

Scotty Wong is clear when he speaks about the future of carbon capture in agriculture in Hawaii. Wong is the CEO of Ohana Hui Ventures, which is at the forefront of the pioneering use of carbon capture as a means to fertilize and grow crops in Hawaii. It is his hope that his carbon capture plan will not only provide a new means to incentivize agriculture in Hawaii but help fight climate change - by removing hundreds of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from Hawaii’s air at the same time.

The process takes locally produced waste product Carbon Dioxide (CO2) associated with refineries and electric generation and transforms it through a technological process into Liquid Carbon Dioxide (LCO2), a commercially valuable “food grade” CO2 (the highest standard) used for things such as agriculture (fertilizer) and dry ice for things such as refrigeration, cleaning by the US Navy, airline food service and bottling plants.

 Hawaii agriculture, since the time of the plantations has been limited by the high cost of imported fertilizers and other inputs. But this may be changing as Scotty and his partners Scotty Reis- Moniz,  Friends of Waimanalo, Sidney Higa, Alika Watts of Ho’oulu Holdings and Keoni Ford of Dibs Hawaii, use new technologies, aimed at utilizing waste carbon emissions which when scrubbed to food grade liquid carbon dioxide (LCO2) can be turned into commercially valuable sources of dry ice and perhaps one day, even jet fuel!

Prior to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, the prices of Nitrogen for farming had already increased significantly. The ongoing war has now exacerbated the costs of using Nitrogen fertilizer in Hawaii- which has long been dependent on Russian imports. For a number of years there has been a serious shortage of dry ice available in Hawaii for industrial purposes. This is where the opportunity exists.

Ford explains, “The problem for Hawaii is that 100 years of plantation agriculture, growing pineapple and sugar on an industrial scale and then shipping them to the Mainland stripped our soil of nutrients. The only way we can grow things now is by importing NPK Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and spreading it on the land. It is very wasteful and counter productive.”

He and his colleagues plan to initially import food grade LCO2 from California and then store it in specialty tanks, (pressurized vessels), at agriculture commercial sites. Following that a virtual terminal of 20 foot containers will be built on site to store the LCO2 - needed to make high density dry ice on demand. The dry ice is to be used for refrigerants and other purposes through outlets he envisions as being “carbon dioxide filling stations.’

The surplus carbon dioxide emission from process used to make the dry ice will be not be leaked into the atmosphere. It will be dissolved and infused into nutrient rich water and poured into the ground. The surrounding agricultural fields will then be revitalized with carbon enriched water.

Through this process CO2 which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere and would contribute to global warming instead will be sequestered in the soil through the planting of hemp. As the hemp grows it will revitalize the soil on many fields by returning nutrients and taking out harmful toxins and metals. The harvested hemp in turn will be used for the creation of building materials and for the creation of biomass.

Ford intends to also use the hemp biomass to power a process that will enable him to produce LCO2 locally on site that they will be able to sell for commercial dry ice. It is after they are able to produce their own LCO2 with the locally produced biomass, that the venture will become profitable.

Ford calls this Hawaii's Carbon Capture Storage and Utilization platform. (CCSU).

The Hawaii CCSU technology is similar in intent but different from carbon capture technology promoted by Canadian company ‘CO2Gro’. The company developed a technology ten years ago using CO2 taken algae and pumping it into greenhouses. It has been known for many years that this technique increases  productivity by 30%. But there were always problems with it; during periods of hot weather the CO2 leaked into the atmosphere. It generally was only cost efficient when energy prices were extraordinarily high as in 2008 when oil reached $147 per barrel.

The combination of the gas leakage and the fall in oil prices during the late 2000’s caused the business to lose customers until the company developed a new technology that instead of gas used carbon infused water in controlled bursts sprayed gently in a fine mist on the leaves of high value marijuana plants. The process uses 5% of the carbon dioxide emitted by gas spraying and gets 30% percent more productivity. The technology is said to have the added benefit for farmers of not having to apply expensive herbicides because the carbon mist alters the pH level of plant leaves by making them more acidic. This makes the plants better able to resist mold, E.Coli and powdery mildew

Background  

Ford who is the visionary behind the project began thinking about this project in 2009 while doing industrial cleaning of luxury homes and buildings on the Island of Hawai’i. There he found himself using toxic solvents for cleaning - which he had to use and dispose of safely. On doing research he found dry ice blasting was a better alternative. It is currently used for cleaning and inspection of metal surfaces by NASA. The advantage to the dry ice blasting is not only that there is no use of toxic chemicals but there is also no secondary waste stream of polluting greasy residue. The dry ice blasting reduces the oil and grime and corrosion to a fine dirt like powder, easily contained in a paper mat that can be disposed of.

“That’s the big plus with- cryogenic cleaning is that cleaning without creating another waste stream. As soon as we are finished it is ready for inspection.”

“Think of it. When I used 15,000 pounds of sand to sandblast something, it left 15,000 pounds of sand and waste that I had to dispose of. Now, with dry ice, it’s just dirt and residue in a paper mat. I thought, if this was good enough for the Space Shuttle what else can it be used for?”

He discovered the US Navy has a requirement for using dry ice for cleaning ventilation systems, air ducts, and galleys and in their ships. This became a new line of business for him. Unfortunately, he soon found Hawaii lacked enough food grade LCO2 for anything other than using it for carbonation in fizzy drinks like Coca Cola. “We were in the absurd situation of importing LCO2 in 20 foot containers on ships. Even the Navy didn’t have enough carbon dioxide for dry ice production and the airline catering business was forced to import carbon dioxide to chill food for flight. It came to me that we had to find a way to make our own.”

He thought the answer might be in agriculture which since the end of the Hawaii plantation era in the 1980s never really recovered economically. Ford put together a coalition with Wong, Reis, Moniz and others to produce a farm that would create enough food grade LCO2 to supply the Navy’s dry ice cleaning needs and at the same time grow everything from Asian vegetables to hemp.

To create the energy to create the LCO2 on agricultural fields he turned to innovative new power generators developed by Tom Quinn of E fuel. Quinn, a former tech entrepreneur, developed a method of producing electricity from the gas waste of plants. This is a special generator powered by renewable ethanol fuel. There is sugar in the hemp that when treated turns to ethanol. The ethanol powers the generator which then uses the carbon dioxide emissions to create the commercially valuable LCO2 which will be stored and sold on site. There is no need for gasoline or diesel fuel to make this happen. Its all done through a process Ford describes as Net Zero Energy - where locally produced plants create the power source and clean water is the waste product.

The carbon dioxide emissions are recovered into a wet scrubber to create CO2 enriched irrigation water. This water is then put back into the soil to grow hemp. The hemp crop that results enables them to produce more LCO2 for dry ice and the profitable cycle continues. Everything that can be produced on the land can be used as an input closing the loop on the power needed to develop it.

The valuable LCO2 will be stored in pressurized containers as part of a virtual supply chain that can be used for everything from dry ice for cold chain logistics support to cryogenic cleaning. He already has customers for the “food grade” dry ice he intends to produce. The pressurized containers containing the LCO2 can be shipped by barge to customers on other islands.

Because of the cut off of Russian oil to Hawaii, the timing may be opportune. The new entity they have created makes use of the 400 acres of farmland and 18,000 feet of warehouse space at Hawaii State Agribusiness Development Corporation ag park known as Whitmore Village. Ohana Hui Ventures, holds the lease to the ag park. They plan to target many different kinds of crops with the liquid fertilizer.

The land will be divided with 40% of the land being used for food crops that use CO2 sprayed on the land, 40% for industrial hemp to be used for building materials products by the local building industry as a low cost alternative to imported products such as plywood or concrete. Excess CO2 will be sequestered in the hemp building materials. Two homes on Maui have been built with Hemp boards and “Hemp crete”.  

The remaining 20% of the agricultural land is to be used as training areas to encourage local farmers.

“Our business plan for Ohana Hui Ventures is to partner with other Kanaka entities, non-profit organizations and enhance traditional practices with innovative ideas and business development. We will provide the lands, the kanaka farmers, the bio feed, utilize the carbon that’s sequestered like C02 water and then we produce smart climate commodities such as enriched food crops, hemp building materials, ethanol and dry ice. This is an example of the partnerships we want to enhance with local farmers and landowners.”

“Its a simple process. We are basically doing photosynthesis. We are doing what nature has always done in Hawaii, taking CO2 out of the air and putting it into the ground so we can produce food crops and other things.”

With funding they hope to raise from private, state and federal sources, they plan to generate revenue from LCO2 in markets as diverse as Navy ships and local bottling plants. 75% of their production is to be used by Hawaii agriculture and energy and the remainder by the Department of Defense. By reducing substantially the cost of fertilizers and pesticides they intend to make farming more profitable in Hawaii.

Wong explained “What we plan to accomplish is to be part of producing climate smart commodities for our communities. We want to be a living example of how traditions and future technologies can work together harmoniously and at the same time reduce green house gases, create renewable fuels and dry ice. All this one day will be powered by net zero energy.”