A Spirit of Kuleana: Renewable Fuels Ventures Strive for New Geographies, Feedstock, Products

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Nothing rang clearer as an industry imperative at ABLC Next last week than the theme of diversification in a Year of Living Dangerously, and we saw it in the news this week from Velocys, Pacific Biodiesel and ICM. Respectively, these are feedstock, product and geographic diversification — done with a goal of building enterprise resilience, reaching new customers, but doing so in harmony with the land and community.

There ought to be a word for it, and it turns out that Hawaiian has one: kuleana. “In Hawaiian, kuleana means a personal sense of responsibility,” noted Pacific Biodiesel’s Marketing Director Joy Galatro.

Product diversification: Pacific Biodiesel

From Hawaii we hear that Maiden Hawaii Naturals, a subsidiary of fuels pioneer Pacific Biodiesel, has launched Kuleana, a new collection of natural beauty oils and facial cleansers made with locally grown ingredients.

Oils are grown at Pacific Biodiesel’s Maui sunflower farm, which also produces feedstock for the company’s signature biodiesel opeations. It;’s for sale locally, through the company’s website and through Amazon.com.

Feedstock diversification: Velocys

From Mississippi comes the news that Velocys has signed a site option agreement with Adams County in the State of Mississippi for its first U.S. biorefinery to be located in Natchez. The company’s previous commercial-scale refinery — the ENVIA project in Oklahoma — had utilized natural gas as a feedstock.

The 100-acre Natchez site was confirmed after the Company analysed a broad set of operational and tax considerations at twelve possible sites in four States in the Southeast United States. Due diligence, including site visits, was completed at each of these sites and incentive offers were received from each State in question.

The analysis lays the foundation for future biorefineries: Velocys is maintaining its list of other advantaged sites in the region, which could host plants with capacities totalling 100 million gallons over the next 10 years. Velocys remains in close contact with the economic development officials in these other States regarding the locations and timing of future renewable fuels facilities.

This announcement completes one of the work packages required for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loan guarantee application announced in June 2017. Site permitting activities have now begun for the Natchez site.