COURTESY ZANE MATHIAS
In June Pacific Biodiesel completed its first harvest of 14 acres of sunflower seeds that can be used to create biofuel.
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Kahului-based Pacific Biodiesel has begun its second harvest of sunflower seeds that can be used to create biofuel.
The company started harvesting the sunflower seeds last month on approximately 13 acres of land for its liquid biofuel crop project, said Joy Galatro, marketing director for Pacific Biodiesel.
The harvested sunflower seeds will be sent to the company’s processing mill on Hawaii island where the oil will be used for feedstock in the production of biodiesel as well as cosmetics, Galatro said. The facility, Big Island Biodiesel, began production in 2012 and has the capability of processing
5.5 million gallons of biodiesel annually.
“We’re showing this can be done,” Galatro said. “This zero-waste model of agriculture and renewable energy is able to produce in an economically feasible way … and create a renewable fuel the state needs.”
Pacific Biodiesel harvested 14 acres of sunflower seeds in June. The company expects to be able to harvest three times a year on its 115-acre site located at the corner of Honoapiilani and Kuihelani highways in Maui’s central valley.
Kim Sloan, spokeswoman for Pacific Biodiesel, said the company is heading to full scale and hoping to expand to 1,000 acres.
“We want to do three crops a year,” said Sloan, noting the company is also looking to plant chickpeas, rapeseed and safflower. “So we’re just scaling up.”
Pacific Biodiesel said its land has the capability of producing 100 gallons of oil for every acre of every harvest. The company also processes used cooking oil from restaurants statewide into biodiesel.
