Embassy Information
Embassy Event
AMERICAN EXPERT SPEAKS ON MAKING BIOFUELS FROM ALGAE
October 5, 2009
On October 5, Dr. Bryan Willson spoke to an audience of approximately 50 Argentines from academia, government, and business about his company’s groundbreaking work in making fuel out of algae. Dr. Willson is a professor of mechanical engineering at Colorado State University and part of the University’s “Clean Energy Supercluster,” a research center for clean energy. The talk, hosted by the University of Business and Social Sciences, provided an overview of the work of Solix Biofuels, of which Dr. Willson is co-founder. Solix is developing processes for growing and harvesting biofuel from algae, producing what is known as “third-generation biofuel.” As an addition environmental benefit, the algae feeds on waste carbon dioxide to help produce oil, so the process both reduces carbon emissions and provides an alternative source of energy.
Dr. Willson provided a convincing argument for the viability of algae as a future energy source, allowing humanity to lessen its dependence on fossil fuels. He pointed out that even if hybrid and electric vehicles may require less fuel in the future, airplanes will always need to run on liquid fuel. Although third-generation biofuels are not yet commercially viable, Dr. Willson said that many possibilities exist for significantly reducing costs and making algae-derived biofuel competitive with conventional oil.
