Keaau’s Pacific Biodiesel celebrated a milestone on March 14 after setting down the path toward becoming the country’s first biodiesel producer to earn certification through the Sustainable Building Advisor Program.
The SBA’s stringent standards require that facilities control air emissions, reduce water consumption, show continuous improvement toward zero-waste production, lower energy consumption, and more.
The $12 million facility, which opened for business as the island’s largest biodiesel refinery in 2012, turns fuel crops and used cooking oil from across the state and the mainland into renewable energy.
During a March 14 presentation and tour, president Robert King explained that sustainability is the keystone of his business, and that means working with community partners to develop new technologies and processes which are not only capable of producing energy from sustainable agricultural products, but producing energy at a competitive price.
That’s a goal that has been difficult to meet lately, because of plummeting oil prices, he admitted.
“We want to compete against ourselves, not the guys in the Middle East,” he said.
But as a sustainable business, biodiesel must be able to roll with the punches, and that’s why a large portion of the property, located within the W.H. Shipman Business Park in Keaau, is devoted to research and development, providing a space to experiment with various alternative energy sources.
Last year, Big Island Biodiesel began work in earnest to develop energy from algae and damaged papayas which can’t be sold for food, he said.
“Between 15 and 20 percent of the papayas grown on Hawaii Island are thrown out every year,” he said.
“That’s a big hit for farmers.”
The fact that the refinery can produce biofuels from a wide variety of feedstocks makes it sustainable, in that it can switch gears when new fuel sources become available.
Currently, the majority of the plant’s biodiesel comes from recycled cooking oil and trap grease oil, King said.
Each day, the plant can pump out about 16,000 gallons of high-quality biodiesel, which is distributed throughout the state. The Hawaiian Electric companies are a major customer.
But in three years or so, King and his wife and business partner, Kelly King, hope to have built strong partnerships with Big Isle farmers who will produce 10,000 acres worth of feedstock like sunflower or safflower, which would be enough to maintain current operations, he said.
“We do about 5.5 million gallons a year,” Kelly King added. “But we have capacity to double that.”
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
