Hawaii-based Pacific Biodiesel, a true American biodiesel pioneer, celebrates a major milestone and makes inspiring plans for the future.

I remember the conversation clearly, three decades ago, when my husband Bob King had an idea that would change our lives—and the trajectory of the burgeoning biofuels industry in America—forever.

Back then, Bob was a diesel mechanic and we owned a generator business on Maui. He had been contracted to maintain and repair the Central Maui Landfill generators, where he often saw haulers dumping copious amounts of restaurant used cooking oil (UCO). He knew this daily occurrence was creating a ripple effect of environmental hazards, including fires caused by UCO heating up composting materials and spontaneously combusting.

Bob wondered … Could that waste oil be recycled into something useful instead of being discarded, polluting our island and possibly contaminating our groundwater? He remembered how, when the oil embargo of the 1970s caused nationwide gasoline shortages, truckers in a pinch could stop at a grocery store and buy a few gallons of vegetable oil to fuel their semis so they could get down the road to the next gas station. The situation at the Maui landfill inspired Bob’s idea: If cooking oil could be a fuel for diesel rigs, what about used cooking oil?

Bob spent the next few months researching the feasibility of his idea. He jumped onto the emerging “information superhighway” and connected with early biodiesel producers in Germany and Austria. In 1995, Pacific Biodiesel was incorporated, complete with the domain name “biodiesel.com.” Bob calculated UCO volumes generated on Maui and then, with help from researchers in Idaho, he designed and built a pilot biodiesel-processing facility that was installed at the very landfill on Maui where his original idea was sparked. Production began in 1996, and that year Bob opened the first retail biodiesel pump in America.

2025 marks the 30th anniversary of Pacific Biodiesel. Our company has designed and built more than a dozen biodiesel refineries around the world, advancing processing technology for each iteration. Hawaii remains our home base and today our refinery on Hawaii Island annually produces 6 million gallons of distilled, premium-quality biodiesel with nearly 100 employees statewide.

The impact of Bob’s “what-if” idea on the renewable fuels industry is immeasurable. What we can quantify, though, is Pacific Biodiesel’s direct impact from our past 30 years of biodiesel production:

• 70 million gallons of biodiesel have been produced for Hawaii, from our initial small-scale plant on Maui to our world-class refinery today on Hawaii Island. We estimate that by using our 100 percent renewable fuel over the past three decades, our biodiesel customers have reduced greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by nearly 1.5 billion pounds of CO2.

• 17 million gallons of local UCO from Hawaii’s restaurants have been recycled by our company for use in the production of our biodiesel.

• We created significant savings for local restaurants—before our company existed, restaurants paid $1 to $2 per gallon for their UCO to be collected and landfilled. We currently collect and recycle their UCO at no charge.

Thirty years later, we’re no longer wondering “what if” our community-based model could supply local clean fuel while fighting climate change and supporting our local economy. It does.

We are also no longer wondering if regenerative agriculture could feed not only our biodiesel production but also our local community. It is.

In 2017, Bob and I began our Maui regenerative-farming sunflower demonstration to supplement local UCO as a feedstock for our biodiesel production. We have personally invested in that farming operation and built a crushing mill to produce sunflower oil for food “then” fuel—our culinary oils are sold to local restaurants helping to support food security, and the UCO is later recycled for our biodiesel production.

Scaling up from there, in early 2024, Pacific Biodiesel announced its expansion of agriculture operations to Kauai, a federally funded project to develop a model for regenerative agriculture-based biofuel produced in Hawaii from multiple locally grown oilseed cover crops in rotation with other food crops. The project’s model will include expanded production of culinary oils and other value-added food products, meal for animal feed, biodiesel and coproducts from biodiesel production such as glycerin and potassium sulfate, a fertilizer for local agriculture.

Also in 2024, we set a bold but realistic vision for our continued expansion of sustainable food and renewable fuel in Hawaii. By 2040, five years before the state’s mandate for 100 percent renewable electricity production by 2045, Pacific Biodiesel will be producing 16 million gallons of biodiesel annually in Hawaii using 100 percent local feedstock (a combination of local UCO plus locally grown crop oils). This volume is estimated to meet the need for 10 percent liquid biofuels in Hawaii’s mix of renewables in 2045—the necessary firm renewable backup to solar, wind and other renewables on the grid.

Speaking as a panelist at the Hawaii Energy Conference in May 2024, Bob explained to the audience of energy stakeholders, “If we’re going to get there by 2045, we can’t start in 2040. These are expensive, elaborate projects … even the farming—it takes years to get land into production, get the system set up and get the equipment. We’re not going to turn this thing on and off quickly.”

With our expansion of agriculture operations to Kauai, we are already making significant progress toward our bold, new vision.

Reflecting back on the past 30 years, the clearest factor to date is the strong support of those who believe in our mission. We are grateful to have had immense support from our employees and customers, community groups and environmental advocates, elected officials and leaders from all levels of government. These biodiesel champions have encouraged us to keep forging ahead and their support mattered when we needed it most.

The Hawaiian word “kākou” (pronounced “ka-kow”) means “all of us, together.” It’s what community-based is all about. As we say in Hawaii, “it’s a kākou thing.” From our own employees to world-renowned scientists and celebrities, all the sincere believers who have contributed to getting us this far are the truest measure of our wealth.

This milestone year, we are especially grateful for several long-term relationships with steadfast supporters who helped us from the earliest days. People like Woody and Laura Harrelson, and Willie and Annie Nelson, were four of our first biodiesel customers on Maui. Woody sent his environmental attorney in to offer help in those first struggling years. Even though we never utilized his attorney, that gesture inspired us to keep going in the most doubtful time of biofuel production.

Willie, a music legend and a respected advocate for America’s farmers for decades, was instrumental in building credibility for our emerging fuel technology especially among America’s truckers. Willie helped make biodiesel trustworthy and cool. And this year, we’re thrilled to announce that Annie has accepted our invitation to join our board of managers. Her tenacity and passion for environmental causes aligns with me to a T, so it’s no wonder we’ve been friends for decades. I look forward to the infusion of energy and creativity and “get-it-done” attitude she’ll bring to expand and enhance our leadership team.

“I first met Kelly and Bob in the early days of their biodiesel business, and what a great way to involve the Maui community in climate action,” Annie explains as she reminisces about her first diesel Jetta running on Maui-made biodiesel. “As the industry grew nationwide, the Kings remained true to their mission of community-based, sustainable production, and it has been my pleasure to support their important focus on doing it right for all the right reasons.”

John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems and The Patrón Spirits Company, learned about Pacific Biodiesel through his friendship with Willie. John Paul joined our LLC during an equity raise that helped get us to the next level in production technology. A globally recognized entrepreneur and philanthropist, John Paul has roots in Hawaii and cares deeply about environmental issues—and our company. We are honored to have his continued support.

Kim and Jack Johnson—champions for regenerative farming, the environment, art and music, especially for Hawaii’s youth—have been steady supporters while entering into the world of farming on Oahu themselves. A shared love of music and biodiesel led to Jack’s post-poker-game song, “Willie Got Me Stoned and Took All My Money.”

From celebrity friends around the globe to customers who choose to fuel their car, tractor or boat with our biodiesel made in Hawaii for Hawaii, every supporter matters.

And as I’m often reminded, you never know who you’ll inspire along the way. This summer we hosted farm tours to invite local students, teachers and community leaders to see our first 100 acres of sunflowers in bloom on Kauai. Hailey, a high school student who attended, told us that day, “I am really grateful to see this. It’s surreal to see a solution to a problem that I feel like most people have given up on. As a student I hear a lot of my classmates give up. And they just plan to leave the island because they feel like there’s nothing left for them here. But it’s great to see that Pacific Biodiesel gives not only jobs but a solution for a more sustainable future.”

Hailey’s generation is why we keep doing what we do. It is not an option to lose hope and give up on our planet—and their future.

The past 30 years were certainly no cakewalk. Bob and I risked everything—multiple times. Facing fickle political will and unreliable financial support, it was often scary not knowing what our future would hold. Now, with an incoming administration that boldly denies climate change and seems eager to dismantle environmental progress to proceed full throttle (backwards!) into a “drill, baby, drill” future, we’re faced once again with an uncertain road ahead for renewables. With wildfires and megastorms quickly becoming our planet’s new normal, now is not the time to reverse course and lose momentum on renewable energy.

Pacific Biodiesel remains true to our mission, unchanged since Day One. We will keep focusing on community-based solutions and fighting for our one and only planet Earth.

I hope those of us in the renewable energy industry who care about our future generations will work together to keep renewables moving forward in a sustainable, regenerative way. The only thing we know for sure is that change is inevitable.

The best solutions will take all of us—kākou.

Author: Kelly King

Co-founder

Pacific Biodiesel

ktk@biodiesel.com