Special Edition – January 2024 | |
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Pacific Biodiesel Awarded Federal Funding to Develop Model for Hawaii Agriculture-Based Biofuel
New Project Supports Army’s Climate Strategy and Hawaii’s Circular Economy
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KAUAI, HAWAII (January 16, 2024) – Pacific Biodiesel Technologies, LLC today announced the company has expanded its operations to Kauai as part of a multi-year agreement signed last year with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineer Research and Development Center’s Construction Engineering Research Laboratory to demonstrate a renewable biofuel produced in Hawaii from multiple locally grown oilseed cover crops. The effort will strengthen Hawaii’s food security, energy security and supply chain resiliency.
Read the full press release here.
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Pacific Biodiesel project team members complete a site visit at the company’s new crushing mill on Kauai. Pictured from left are George Twigg-Smith, production manager; James Twigg-Smith, director of agriculture operations; Pacific Biodiesel founders Kelly and Bob King, and Tarek Abdallah, an engineer at USACE ERDC’s Construction Engineering Research Laboratory.
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In this video, Pacific Biodiesel Co-Founder Kelly King explains the importance of the company's agricultural expansion to Kauai to support Hawaii's circular economy by "creating jobs to manufacture products for our local community while urgently fighting the effects of the global climate crisis." | |
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Featured in today's Biobased Diesel Daily:
Hope Blooms on Kauai
Pacific Biodiesel spearheads Hawaii agriculture-based biofuel to support the U.S. Army’s climate strategy and the Aloha State’s circular economy.
By Kelly King, Co-Founder, Pacific Biodiesel
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Nearly two decades ago, I had the vision that local agricultural crops like sunflowers could help supplement the limited supply of used cooking oil in Hawaii as feedstock for our community-based biodiesel production. I was told time and again it can’t be done. State economists and agronomists said crops can’t be grown at scale for food and fuel in our tropical communities. Even one of our former partners was adamant that the model wouldn’t work. | |
Pacific Biodiesel Co-founder Kelly King | |
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Inspired by the beauty and utility of sunflowers, I ignored the naysayers and persevered in commitment of our company mission.
Pacific Biodiesel’s community-based production is a model for the circular economy and now more important than ever. Hawaii is the most isolated community on the planet and, like other vulnerable island communities around the world, we are on the front lines of climate chaos. Our company, the nation’s longest operating commercial producer of biodiesel, created the first retail biodiesel pump in America in Maui County. The deadly, climate crisis-accelerated Maui wildfire disaster last August became the latest example of the increasingly dire state of our planet that will continue unless we support community-based visionary solutions such as locally produced biodiesel.
Read Kelly King's full editorial published in Biobased Diesel Daily here.
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Pacific Biodiesel Founders Bob and Kelly King visit the warehouse on Kauai where the company has expanded its operations and has relocated its agriculture processing equipment and capability from Hawaii Island. | |
Unloading the company's bottling line equipment at Pacific Biodiesel’s new Kauai crushing mill warehouse are (on left) George Twigg-Smith, production manager, Maiden Hawaii Naturals, LLC and James Twigg-Smith, director of agriculture operations, Pacific Biodiesel. | |
In the new facility’s bottling room, Pacific Biodiesel President Bob King points out the multiple large-scale silos and seed handling systems adjacent to the new crushing mill warehouse on Kauai. With him L to R are George Twigg-Smith, production manager; James Twigg-Smith, director of agriculture operations; Pacific Biodiesel co-founder Kelly King and Tom Smude, President of Midwest Sales & Construction, LLC. | |
Finishing a site tour of the first phase of the project are L to R President of Midwest Sales & Construction, LLC Tom Smude, Gay & Robinson, Inc. Vice President Howard Greene, Pacific Biodiesel Co-founders Bob and Kelly King, Gay & Robinson, Inc. President Brian Yamaste and Pacific Biodiesel Director of Agriculture Operations James Twigg-Smith. | |
Tom Smude, President of Midwest Sales & Construction, LLC, and Pacific Biodiesel President Bob King inspect three silos being assembled by Smude’s team at the Kauai site. | |
Pacific Biodiesel’s Bob King and James Twigg Smith are joined by Gay & Robinson, Inc. Vice President Howard Greene to take in the view from atop the first of three 32’ tall silos at the Kauai site, each with a capacity of 330,000 pounds of seed. | |
Founded in 1995, Pacific Biodiesel is the nation's longest operating and most experienced biodiesel producer, and the only commercial producer of liquid biofuels in the state. A Maui-based company with nearly 100 employees statewide, we established the first retail biodiesel pump in America and for nearly three decades we've been an innovative leader in the renewable energy industry. With a nameplate production capacity of 5.5 million gallons annually, our refinery on Hawaii Island utilizes advanced technology to produce premium distilled biodiesel. Our company has always focused on recycling with a zero waste philosophy that incorporates development of value-added co-products. Today, our collaborative, community-based "agriculture and energy" production model demonstrates a circular economy approach to fighting climate change and helps Hawaii achieve a clean, sustainable energy future. | |
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Our Mission: To promote a clean, sustainable energy future through the community-based production of renewable fuels
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Pacific Biodiesel
PO BOX 1459, Kahului Hi 96733
Editor: Joy Galatro, Marketing Director
Staff Writer & Layout: Beth Mathias, Marketing Associate
For more information visit our website
biodiesel.com
or contact Beth Mathias at
bmathias@biodiesel.com
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