National Biodiesel Day on Monday, March 18, marked the birthday of German inventor Rudolf Diesel, whose original design used peanut oil. Today, vegetable oil is the idea behind biodiesel.
Kelly King co-founded Pacific Biodiesel on Maui in 1995
For close to three decades, Pacific Biodiesel has been plugging away in Hawaiʻi using crops for fuel and recycling cooking oil waste from restaurants.
The Conversation caught up with co-founder Kelly King, also a former Maui County councilmember, to talk about the company’s expansion to Kauaʻi and what the scale-up means for the state’s sustainability goals.
She said the company is working toward producing all of its feedstock in Hawaiʻi, plus having enough feedstock to build another biodiesel refinery. Its sole refinery is in Keaʻau on the Big Island.
Read the full NPR article here.