East Kansas Agri-Energy and Pearson Fuels Announce an Exclusive Marketing Agreement to Distribute Renewable Diesel to the West Coast

SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–East Kansas Agri-Energy (EKAE) of Garnett, Kansas, and Pearson Fuels of
San Diego, CA, announce the signing of an exclusive West Coast marketing
agreement for the distribution of Renewable Diesel from EKAE’s recently
commissioned plant in Garnett.

Renewable Diesel meets the traditional diesel fuel specification while
being produced from renewable feed stocks. In the case of EKAE’s Garnett
plant, the feedstock is exclusively a corn distillers’ oil byproduct
from its adjacent ethanol production facility. The fuel qualifies under
both the “biomass-based diesel” and the “other advanced biofuels”
category in meeting the federal Renewable Fuels Standard.

“Renewable Diesel is considered a drop-in replacement for diesel fuel
and as such is integral to both California’s and Oregon’s Low Carbon
Fuel Standard programs. EKAE’s Renewable Diesel has a 60 percent
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions verses traditional diesel,” says
Mike Lewis, Co-founder of Pearson Fuels. “This is the newest of only a
handful of domestic Renewable Diesel plants in the United States, and
since the feedstock is a byproduct of ethanol production, the carbon
footprint is exceptionally low. When we first became aware of the
Renewable Diesel project in Kansas, we were impressed with the
technology, but, more importantly, we were impressed with the company
and the people at EKAE developing and managing this project. With
Pearson’s experience in biofuel distribution in California, we knew we
could work well together.”

There are more than 1 million diesel vehicles on the road in California
that are capable of using Renewable Diesel as a drop-in fuel requiring
no blending or vehicle modification whatsoever. Renewable Diesel burns
much cleaner than regular diesel, has a higher cetane rating, is
domestically produced, and currently sells at comparable pricing to
regular diesel. Pearson intends to deliver the fuel to retailers, fuel
distributors, and municipalities in both California and Oregon. The
first several rail cars of Renewable Diesel have already started
shipping to these West Coast markets.

EKAE’s President and CEO Bill Pracht says, “As the first plant in the
country to utilize this bolt-on Renewable Diesel technology adjacent to
an operating ethanol plant, we had multiple challenges and re-starts
over several years. It took quite a commitment to see the project
through to completion, but now that we have achieved stable production
levels, we are beginning to see the fruits of our efforts, especially
now that our product is being delivered to West Coast markets that value
the low carbon benefits of our fuel. We are excited to be working with
Pearson Fuels on this project. They have a 15-year history on the
cutting edge of alternative fuels in California and have helped pave the
way for alternative fuels in the largest fuel market in the country.
They have been actively promoting retail biofuels sales longer than
anyone in the state and we look forward to our multi-year marketing
relationship.”

Pearson Fuels has grown from one alternative fuel station opened in San
Diego in 2003 to become California’s largest independently owned ethanol
distributor, currently supplying over 125 flex fuel (E85) ethanol,
biodiesel, and renewable diesel locations. They specialize in the
development of fueling infrastructure for the distribution and sale of
alternative fuels.

Founded in 2001, East Kansas Agri-Energy’s 50-million-gallon-per-year
ethanol plant began full production in 2005. EKAE is the largest company
and one of the largest employers in Garnett, Kansas, and has won
multiple industry awards in its 12 years of ethanol plant operation. The
Renewable Diesel plant held a ceremonial groundbreaking in November 2014
and sold its first Renewable Diesel gallons designated for the West
Coast through its Marketing Agreement with Pearson Fuels in October of
this year.

For more information, contact Stephanie Thompson at 619-840-7353 or [email protected].
Information about Pearson Fuels can be found at www.pearsonfuels.com.
Information about EKAE can be found at www.ekaellc.com.

Contacts

Stephanie Thompson Communications
Stephanie Thompson
619-840-7353
[email protected]