Pacific Biodiesel has 'momentum' - without MECO

The Maui News
Sunday, February 18, 2007
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer

KAHULUI - Pacific Biodiesel, which is already refining fuel on Maui, had discussions with Hawaiian Electric Co. about renewable fuels for MECO.

"We thought we were working with them," said Kelly King, the marketing director.

But a new company, Blue-Earth, ended up making the deal, which was announced Saturday. King is critical of Blue-Earth's business model, for two reasons. First, she questions the use of palm oil as the feedstock.

Palm oil, native to West Africa, is grown on plantations in tropical parts of Africa, Asia and South America. Malaysia is the biggest producer.

Production was greatly increased after World War II with the goal of improving the diets of tropical people, most of whom did not get enough fat.

It has recently spurted again, driven by demand for fuel. The wisdom of using palm oil as an industrial fuel is controversial because of allegations that tropical rainforest is being cut down for oil plantations.

BlueEarth says it is planning to use palm oil "imported from around the Pacific Rim and South America from suppliers that practice sustainable palm production. In the future, it is hoped to convert the plant to Hawaii-grown feed stock, including possibly palm oil, jatropha, kukui nut, coconut or other oil rich crops."

King said it can be iffy to identify "sustainable" palm oil sources.

Second, King questions the conversion to other crops.

She said she doubts that an offshore company will truly commit to encouraging local agriculture. She thinks Blue-Earth will simply go for the lowest-cost supplier and become habituated to imported palm oil. Besides, she believes the correct approach for Hawaii is from the bottom up, slow and steady.

"We have such great momentum right now," she said.

Pacific Biodiesel's production is small, only about 1 million gallons a year in the islands. (It also has plants on the Mainland and in Asia.) Blue-Earth expects to be a hundred times bigger within five years.

King and her husband, Bob, expect to be about five times bigger in Hawaii - they are exploring a 5-million-gallon plant on the Big Island, along with expansion of their Maui and Oahu refineries.

Maui, the original refinery, captured a problem feedstock, restaurant kitchen grease, which was being buried in the landfill when it wasn't being dumped into sewage lines, where it caused clogs and spills into the ocean. That source was quickly tapped out, and the Kings have been looking for other possibilities, even fish oil.

Refining used cooking oil into biodiesel produces a residue, including glycerin. Pacific Biodiesel's small plant at the Central Maui Landfill is able to add its small supplies of effluent to the product at Maui EKO Compost.

"Not everybody has a composting partner," King said.

see related story: $61M biodiesel plant outlined
My biodiesel baby: Maui's alt-energy future?