top of page

Milestones

Writer's picture: Ron KotrbaRon Kotrba

When I first began covering the biodiesel industry in 2005, Pacific Biodiesel was an established player in the field.

 


Today the company is most known for its community-based, Hawaii-centric model in which it collects, cleans and utilizes used cooking oil as feedstock for biodiesel production at its cutting-edge facility on Hawaii Island.

 


The fuel is also used in-state to help reduce dependence on imports—when you live on a small archipelago in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, that’s an impressive task.

 


More recently, the firm expanded sunflower farming and processing to Kauai as part of a federally funded project.

 


Back then, though, Pacific Biodiesel was both a producer and a technology provider, and it was well on its way to constructing more than a dozen biodiesel plants for itself and various companies utilizing a process design Bob King first developed in the mid-1990s.

 


Not only was the company a prolific producer and tech provider, but Bob and his wife Kelly were instrumental in making biodiesel cool.

 


They had remarkable connections—Willie Nelson, Woody Harrelson, Jack Johnson and so many more.

 


Since the biodiesel heyday in the mid- to late 2000s, Pacific Biodiesel has refocused its mission on the company’s community-based operations in Hawaii.

 


As it builds out its regenerative agriculture project with Hawaii-grown sunflowers, the company has significant plans for the future.

 


Last year, in 2024, Pacific Biodiesel laid out a major growth trajectory that stretches out to 2040.

 


I won’t reveal the details here, so you’ll have to read the feature article on page 36 to get the scoop.

 


Pacific Biodiesel is celebrating its 30-year anniversary in 2025, and to see such a tuned biodiesel model working so well for the Kings and their family, employees and community is truly inspiring—particularly in light of the bad news we’ve heard lately in the market with plants idling, closing or going out of business.

 


For every one plant that has vocalized its struggles, there are likely many more that haven’t.

 


Conversely, I would also like to think that, for every biodiesel company like Pacific Biodiesel that succeeds, there are many more doing so as well.

 


I suppose this is the eternal optimist in me that comes from my years writing about biodiesel.

 


This brings me to another milestone I’d like to mention.

 


January 2025 marks my 20th anniversary reporting on this industry for trade magazines.

 


It has been, and continues to be, an honor and a privilege.

 


Thank you to everyone—online readers, magazine subscribers, contributors and advertisers—for making it possible for me to accomplish this.

 


I am grateful.

 



Ron Kotrba

Editor and Publisher

Frazier, Barnes & Associates LLC
Veriflux
Reiter USA
Clean Fuels Alliance America
WWS Trading
HERO BX
Imerys
R.W. Heiden Associates LLC
Myande Group
Clean Fuels Alliance America
Engine Technology Forum
Topsoe
Teikoku USA Inc.
Evonik
Missouri Soybeans
Ocean Park
CPM | Crown
Desmet
EcoEngineers
Advertise Here on Biobased Diesel Daily®
Dicalite
Michigan Advanced Biofuels Coalition
Pacific Biodiesel
Biobased Academy®
PQ Corporation
Advanced Biofuels USA
Render magazine
Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit

Subscribe to Our Free

E-Newsletter Sent Every Tuesday:

 

Biobased Diesel™ Weekly

 

And Our Free Print Journal*: 

Biobased Diesel™

 

*Print journal available only in the U.S. and Canada until further notice. Subscribers outside the U.S. and Canada will receive a digital version of the print magazine via email. 

Advertise Here on Biobased Diesel Daily®
Advertise Here on Biobased Diesel Daily®
Advertise Here on Biobased Diesel Daily®
Advertise Here on Biobased Diesel Daily®

Thanks for submitting!

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • X

© 2025 RonKo Media Productions LLC. All rights reserved. 

bottom of page