HM3 Energy lands USDA grant for biomass fuel research

HM3 Energy announced Wednesday it received a $90,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to refine the process of turning forest and wood waste into an alternative fuel that can be burned cleanly in existing coal plants.

Gresham-based HM3 Energy is using torrefaction — an oxygen-free, high-heat process — to convert biomass into dry and dense briquettes that can be used like coal.

The USDA Small Business Innovation Research Phase I award will fund HM3's refining of the process that will remove dirt, sand and rock from the biomass debris in order to produce clean-burning briquettes. The grant is likely to be followed by a Phase II award of $750,000 or more to evolve the process into a demonstration phase.

Hiroshi Morihara, president and CEO of HM3, said that the company has already conducted two tests of its alternative fuel at a coal lab in Laramie, Wyo., with good results. He said Portland General Electric, which is looking at alternatives for its Boardman coal plant, helped fund one of the tests.

"Not just PGE but PacifiCorp. and others have said to us, 'If you have this product, we will place the order,'" Morihara said.

HM3 plans to build a pilot production facility this year.

"Scaling up is always the issue," Moriahara said.

The company is selling private shares to friends and family in an effort to raise $500,000 in startup capital by the end of the month, with $328,000 in the bank to date.

Founded by five engineers in 2008 as HM3 Ethanol, the company started out looking for a way to turn woody biomass into ethanol, but then changed direction to focus on a clean alternative to coal.