Few companies and individuals have had the impact on this industry as Pacific Biodiesel and the Kings. With its celebrity backing, Pacific Biodiesel—the nation’s longest-operating biodiesel company—made biodiesel sexy. Founders Bob and Kelly King helped bring this then-obscure fuel out of the shadows of its infancy and into the spotlight of mainstream commercialization. Today, the Kings are celebrating 25 years since they founded Pacific Biodiesel in 1995.
Like many other biodiesel companies, Pacific Biodiesel has had to adapt to changing market conditions and waning federal policy support in order to survive. Once a process technology-focused company that built 13 plants in Hawaii, Japan, Alaska and on the U.S. mainland, Pacific Biodiesel disbanded its construction division and went back to its roots, focusing on local sustainability and community-based recycling, agriculture and biodiesel production in Hawaii. One hundred percent of its operations and employees are now concentrated in Hawaii. While the Pacific Biodiesel of today remains true to its original sustainability-driven mission, the company has diversified tremendously to ride the waves and forge new paths and markets for its products—and its future.
Read the full article at http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/articles/2516874/coming-full-circle
This article originally published in the Winter 2020 edition of Biodiesel Magazine and is shared with permission from Biodiesel Magazine.
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