Serving as a beacon of sustainability and innovation, Pacific Biodiesel was founded in Maui in 1995 by Bob and Kelly King. Born out of a need to address environmental and health concerns stemming from the dumping of used cooking oil into the Central Maui Landfill, the company emerged as a solution to convert waste into opportunity, even before the biodiesel industry had burgeoned in the U.S.  It began when the Kings, then-owners of King Diesel, a generator business that was the Maui County Cummins Engine dealership at the time, became acquainted with a compost company called Maui EKO and saw an opportunity. “One of our contracts was at the Central Maui Landfill and Bob would go every month and do regular maintenance on it,” [Kelly] King says. “Every time he went, the people from Maui EKO would complain because they were working there on the composting, and the used cooking oil (UCO) was a huge problem for them because there’s so much energy and heat in UCO that it would sometimes just spontaneously combust and create a fire.”

Another issue with UCO being put in the landfill, she explains, is people tend to freeze it, and when it melts, it can potentially leach through the lining of the landfill and into the groundwater, creating a toxic substance in the water table. “These two big issues inspired Bob to start researching what could be done—this was in the late ’90s when the [information] superhighway became available to the public,” King says. “He remembered something from his earlier days working for Westport Marine in Washington as a journeyman mechanic during the early embargo days of the ’70s, when gas stations were running out of fuel.”

That trade secret was that truckers were being told if they got to a gas station and there wasn’t any fuel, they could go to the nearest grocery store and get a five-gallon container of Wesson Oil, which would get them to the next station. “Knowing there was a connection between cooking oil and diesel fuel, Bob started researching biodiesel,” she says. “At the time, the University of Idaho was doing a lot of research on this, trying to get to the point of making biodiesel out of UCO, which no one was really doing.” (The first biodiesel processing plant in the world started in Leer, Germany, a few years prior and used rapeseed oil for feedstock).

The Kings ended up collaborating with the U of I researchers to build the first plant in the United States that processed UCO into biodiesel that was available to the public. This visionary idea has helped Pacific Biodiesel, based in Kahului, Hawaii, to become the nation’s longest-operating biodiesel producer. “We are the oldest biodiesel processor and most experienced,” King says.

Legendary performer Willie Nelson and his wife Annie have been customers of Pacific Biodiesel on Maui since 2003, with the couple driving only biodiesel vehicles, including the singer’s tour bus. They were also founding members of the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance with the Kings.

An Evolution 
Pacific Biodiesel’s impact stretches far beyond the shores of Hawaii. In 1997, the company began sharing its innovative multifeedstock process technology with other emerging companies, embarking on a journey to build biodiesel facilities across the mainland U.S. and Japan. “The Maui plant got noticed worldwide, and the second plant we built for biodiesel processing was in Nagano, Japan, for the 1998 Winter Olympics,” King says. “Not a lot of people know this, but they actually ran some of the vehicles on B20 during those cold Olympic Games.”

The company built another dozen plants around the U.S., and the Kings thought that installation would be their mainstay, but as engine technology became more sophisticated, the process had to become more sophisticated. By the late 2000s, climate issues in Hawaii changed their thinking. “A mandate was passed in Hawaii to become 100% renewable in our electric utilities by 2045, so we came back to Hawaii and decided to focus on building a state-of-the-art refinery here, which we did on Big Island to help fulfill our state’s mandate,” King says.

Today, Pacific Biodiesel’s operations are focused mainly in Hawaii, where its biodiesel refinery is leading the charge in producing the nation’s highest-quality biodiesel. “We’re pretty much getting all the used cooking oil in the state,” King says. “We’ve gone into grease trap research and figured out a process using a centrifuge system to spin the oil out of this abundant material.”

Pacific Biodiesel has grown into a powerhouse of sustainability, employing nearly 100 individuals statewide. The company’s mission has remained steadfast: to promote a clean, sustainable energy future through community-based production of renewable fuels.

Farming Matters  
Pacific Biodiesel’s commitment to sustainability doesn’t end with biodiesel production. The company tackled the issue of grease trap waste, diverting hundreds of tons from landfills each month and demonstrating its dedication to a zero-waste philosophy.

In 2017, the Kings ventured into farming, cultivating sunflowers and other biofuel cover crops on Maui to support food security, energy security and carbon sequestration. Through the Kings’ company, Maiden Hawaii Naturals, they now produce culinary oils and cosmetic ingredients from locally grown ingredients. “The idea is to create the high-end value with actual cooking oil,” King says, explaining that the company uses sunflower oil and macadamia nut oil, incorporating advice from Smude’s Sunflower Farms in Minnesota. “This was sort of a pipe dream of mine 15 years ago. I used to talk about my vision of creating cooking oil in the state, selling it to restaurants and food product manufacturers, and then getting it back afterward to process into biodiesel, and that’s where we are now.”

The Kings received federal funding with the help of U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii, to expand their biofuel crop project to Kauai Island, which they farm regeneratively on land owned by Gay & Robinson Inc., a well-known former sugar plantation in the state. Sen. Hirono recently toured the facility, which has three large silos, augers and a crushing mill. The tour included a visit to the mill’s bottling room, where guests sampled the company’s premium culinary oils that are sourced from local agriculture, including sunflowers from the Kings’ farm on Maui.

Last year, the company expanded operations to Kauai under a multiyear agreement established with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineer Research and Development Center in collaboration with its Construction Engineering Research Laboratory. The project aims to showcase the viability of renewable biofuel derived from various locally cultivated oilseed cover crops in Hawaii. Aligned with the U.S. Army Climate Strategy, the new project will deliver a prototype solution for biofuel production alongside an agricultural model tailored for Hawaii’s unique conditions. It serves to validate the feasibility of transitioning to sustainable fuel for military applications, encompassing transportation and power generation facilities. Furthermore, it contributes to the military’s objective of achieving 100% renewable utility power in the state by 2045.

King notes that the project will demonstrate farming at a much larger scale of 1,000 acres or more, and include sunflowers and other crops in rotation with food crops. She says that the project’s initial phase involves evaluating the production of a prototype fuel composed entirely of virgin oil feedstock utilizing oilseed cover crops cultivated and processed on Kauai. By employing locally sourced feedstock oil for biodiesel production at the company's refinery on Hawaii Island, they can conduct real-time testing to confirm adherence to ASTM D6751 standards. Subsequently, the performance of the prototype fuel will undergo validation on military power generation platforms. “Doing this in the state of Hawaii means a more stable feedstock supply and less shipping and greenhouse gas emissions,” she says. “Our state will benefit, as biodiesel has become an essential component in [Hawaii’s] renewable utility goals, providing firm renewable power when the sun doesn’t shine, and the wind doesn’t blow.”

The goal is to eventually get to 10,000 to 15,000 acres. “We are on our way with our community-based biodiesel model, and so far, we have received about $11 million for this federal sustainable agriculture project,” King says. “We hope to continue with funding in the next few years to get to the end game of creating another biodiesel refinery, hopefully on Kauai. The goal is to have all biodiesel made in the state of Hawaii produced from local feedstock.”

Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges the Kings have run into are birds. “We didn’t have any problems with the first crops we grew on Maui because the birds hadn’t found it, but once they did ... even the local hunters who came to our fields and claimed they had taken almost 70,000 doves, it hasn’t seemed to have made a dent,” King says. “We know we are going to lose 10 to 15 percent of the crop to the birds. One of the ways we are addressing this challenge is with equipment to dry the seeds so we can harvest earlier, and stem the bird loss without having to spray pesticides.”

The Road Ahead 
In May, Pacific Biodiesel hosted its third annual Sunflower Farm Music Festival on Maui, with musicians from Steely Dan, the Beach Boys, Doobie Brothers and Stray Cats taking part. This year’s event was produced by multiplatinum music producer, artist manager and event producer Kerry Brown, owner of Licorice Pizza Records and a Maui resident. “We only do it as a benefit; the last two have raised money for local nonprofits addressing food security in our island state,” King says. “Our focus as a biodiesel company has been on sustainable food and fuel, and we are also educating the public while raising funds.”

The three organizations benefiting from this year’s event are Maui Hub, Grow Some Good and Common Ground Collective. Next year, the company will celebrate its 30th anniversary, and although the Kings thought they would be retired by now, Kelly King shares that it’s such interesting and important work, they don’t plan to stop anytime soon. “Locally produced biodiesel and the added-value products that come from our regenerative agriculture ventures help create our circular economy, support local agriculture and promote healthy eating,” she says. “Our model provides jobs and revenue in our communities much better than hydrogen or electric, because we can do this within our community under local control.”

With each drop of biodiesel produced and every innovative solution implemented, Pacific Biodiesel proves that sustainability isn’t just a goal—it’s a way of life.

Author: Keith Loria 
Contributing Writer, Biodiesel Magazine