Kawaihae macnut carbon plant.

[gtill]

20Mil$ plant being built in Kawaehae to convert mac nut husks into carbon for filters and other bio and ag products. Only found this in the Hon Advertiser. With a real electric source (geothermal, small clean tech industry would come!)

[hooligal]

Doesn't this plan assume that someone is buying the actual mac *nuts*? I thought that the Mac Nut industry had shifted to Asia recently & our mac nut farmers were in dire straights. Just something I heard, not anything I researched! If no one buys our nuts, farmers will stop growing them, then there won't be husks for this plant, right? I haven't read the article, so feel free to fill me in if I am totally off-base!

* I'd rather fail at happiness than succeed at misery *

[EightFingers]

I'll be on-island in about 2 weeks. I promise to buy some chocolate covered macnuts then! I eat a box of those darn things everyday []

[gtill]

I think the plant might be why macnut is coming back. One thing, instead of having to pay 5$ a ton for disposal (and no hope for improvment in our waste mess), the new company is paying 10$ a ton for the husks. One was being built in Australia was lost to a fire so they got a 50 year lease here from HHL in Kawaehae.

The best story on it is on 24/7, a weblog listed on Damons site. Go to the 3rd page (archives) for the best writeup.

They get biofuel to run the plant and high grade carbon product (filter quality) as a mainstay. Truly a value addition for mac nut industry.

[gtill]

The complaint the farmers were having was that one of the biggies who buy from the small guys weren't buying anymore, and the big chocolate out fit was buying cheap from Australia and selling as Hawaiian. Plus theft.

Worse yet, the macnut was brought in by UH as a replacment for coffee, and a lot of acres of coffee were lost.

[EightFingers]

"...big chocolate out fit was buying cheap from Australia and selling as Hawaiian. ..."
What a dissapointment! Can you tell me who this is?