Honda / RITE announce a major development in bio-ethanol production.

Takeo Fukui, President and CEO of Honda reviewed the state of Honda and their position in the market for road vehicles on July 20th 2005. (*PS)

In a little noticed remark in his review he identified the Brazilian market where ethanol fuel has been used since the mid 19809's since when Honda has been offering motorcycles and then automobiles that accept ethanol-gasoline fuel. The percentage of ethanol has increased from 10% to 20% and 25%, and now 100% ethanol fuel, called E100, is also available in the market. Honda he announced will introduce a FlexFuel car that accepts ethanol contained fuel at any percentage, before the end of 2006.

He also quietly added as a rider that Honda will continue to pursue efforts to utilize various non-gasoline energy sources, which is expected to have a large impact on the reduction of CO2.

On September 14th 2006 in a joint statement with Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE) , Honda announced that their cooperative research has resulted in ethanol production technology from soft-biomass, a renewable resource of plant-derived material. Even now few people have noticed the announcement.

Because Carbon dioxide (CO2) released by combustion of bio-ethanol balances the CO2 captured by plants through photosynthesis the total atmospheric CO" load does not increase. Bio-ethanol, therefore, a carbon-neutral fuel, but current production competes with food sources - sugar, corn, soya beans.

So like many others , RITE and Honda have focused on converting ethanol from cellulose and hemicelluloses, both found in soft-biomass- inedible leaves and stalks of plants, such as rice or corn straw.

The RITE-Honda process, combines bio-technology from RITE and the engineering technology of Honda.

The process consists of 4 stages;

I. Pretreatment to separate cellulose from soft-biomass
II. Saccharification of cellulose and hemicellulose
III. Conversion of sugar into ethanol using microorganisms
IV. Ethanol refinement


The largest obstacle to ethanol production with current technology is the inhibition of fermentation that disrupts the growth and function of microorganisms that convert sugar into alcohol, leading to extremely low ethanol yield. Honda and RITE have overcome this obstacle through using the patented RITE strain of micro-organisms and Honda's engineering to improve alcohol conversion efficiency.

Having developed the process they now intend to dvelop a mass scale continuous process.

A demonstration project is envisioned within a pilot plant.

RITE was established in 1990 as a joint investment of the Japanese government and private enterprises, with the goal of conducting fundamental research on countermeasure technology for global-warming, particularly climate change. Engaged in efforts to stabilize climate change through development of alternative energy research and CO2 sequestration technologies.

Process image (c) Honda / RITE

* PS It was of course the ocassion when he reported the progress on the Honda Jet which improves fuel efficiency by 40% compared to existing aircrafts in its class by combining excellent aerodynamic performance with the high fuel efficiency of Honda’s HF118 engine.