HM3 Energy, Inc.
Leadership
The original members of our technical team consist of senior chemists and engineers who have been studying the potential conversion of lignocellulosic feedstock for years. Our team was specifically formed to bring a full complement of skills and experience to move from research to pilot plant design and operation to commercial plant design and operation. They have already demonstrated in the laboratory how to treat forest waste biomass so that it can be compacted into dense briquettes that can replace coal in coal-fired power plants.
Hiroshi Morihara, Ph.D., President and CEO
Bill Breneman, P.E., Process Engineering Manager
David Carter, B.S., Project Manager
Howard Dawson, Ph.D., Analytical and QA Manager
Andrew Green, B.S., Project Engineering Manager
Warren Shoemaker, M.B.A., Business Development Manager
Hiroshi Morihara, Ph.D., President and CEO
The president and CEO, Hiroshi has experience developing a new innovative polysilicon technology from R&D through pilot plant to full commercial production. In 1977 Hiroshi and Bill Breneman were intimately involved in technical and managerial leadership roles in the Low Cost Silicon Solar Array Project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Dr. Morihara was also instrumental in facilitating the integration of technology purchased by Union Carbide from Komastu Electronic Materials for the pyrolysis of silane into polysilicon rods, the favored shape factor for the electronic industry and solar industries. This technology was demonstrated in the semi-commercial scale facility and later up-scaled to a $250 million, 1200 ton/year facility which began operation in Moses Lake, WA in 1985.
Today, the original Moses Lake facility continues to produce high quality materials for use in both electronic and photovoltaic applications. While ownership of the enterprise has changed hands over the past thirty years, the basic process remains fundamentally unchanged as the leading technology for low cost and high quality.
Bill Breneman, P.E., Process Engineering Manager
Bill Breneman, together with Hiroshi, has experience developing a new innovative polysilicon technology from R&D through pilot plant to full commercial production. In 1977 Dr. Morihara and Mr. Breneman were intimately involved in technical and managerial leadership roles in the Low Cost Silicon Solar Array Project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The goal of the overall program was to demonstrate the feasibility and practicality of production of terrestrial photovoltaic systems based on silicon. While working for Union Carbide Corp. under a DOE/JPL Contract, Bill was responsible as Principal Investigator for developing a process for large scale production of silane with a quality suitable for the production of “solar grade” silicon. Bill also developed analytical methods for monitoring the quality of the silane and polysilicon. As the program moved through the various stages of development, Mr. Breneman became the lead design engineer for a world scale facility designed to produce silane and polycrystalline silicon. Mr. Breneman currently provides technology consulting services to the successor company, REC Silicon.
David Carter, B.S., Project Manager
David recently joined HM3 Energy as the project manager for our expanded pilot plant facility as well as the design and construction of our first commercial planty. His primary role is to coordinate and manage the various parties involved including technology providers, design engineering firms, and equipment suppliers. In addition, David has extensive process engineering knowledge that is applied to develop and improve HM3 Energy’s technology. David has great experience taking projects from start-up status to finished commercial plant.
Howard Dawson, Ph.D., Analytical and QA Manager
Howard contributed to the success of the polysilicon project (see Hiroshi Morihara bio) as Quality Assurance manager to make the product attractive not only to the solar cell industry but also to the semiconductor industry. Prior to polysilicon work, Howard Dawson worked many years in the pulp and paper industries acquiring a deep understanding of wood chemistry.
Andrew Green, B.S., Project Engineering Manager
Andrew has almost twenty years of experience in semiconductor wafer processing—from innovative process equipment design to start-up and trouble shooting of various pieces of process equipment. He was responsible for coming up with the concept for, and designing of, our proprietary Pressure Steam Pulping (PSP) system used in wood chip pretreatment.
Warren Shoemaker, M.B.A., Business Development Manager
Warren has been a consultant for advanced bio-energy projects and brought his entrepreneurial and corporate experience to our team in late 2009. He was part of the business development team for Pacific Ethanol, the West’s largest ethanol producer. There he negotiated and coordinated contracts, investigated various clean energy technologies and helped write a successful $24 million grant to the US Department of Energy for a cellulosic ethanol demonstration project at Boardman, Oregon.
Warren was a co-founder of the Northwest Biofuels Association (founded in February 2006), and networks with a number of green energy groups, including the NEBC (Northwest Environmental Business Council) and the Energy Forum.
NEWS
NOV 2011: HM3 Energy Northwest Cleantech Open regional finalist, competes in national competition in San Jose. READ MORE
AUGUST 2011: HM3 Energy featured in Biomass Power & Thermal magazine. READ MORE
JUNE 2011: HM3 Energy awarded SBIR-USDA Phase 2 grant, worth $460,000. READ MORE
HM3 Energy receives US Endowment for Forestry and Communities grant, worth $241,000. The award will be used for pilot plant operation and key commercial scale equipment design and fabrication... READ MORE
Successful test burn completed with 100% torrefied biomass in pulverized coal-fired combustion facility proves torrefied biomass can replace coal directly in coal-fired power plants... READ MORE
Torrefied biomass energy can come from a variety of feedstock sources.... READ MORE
Torrefied biomass energy costs compare very favorably with other clean energy forms, such as solar and wind...READ MORE