DOE Scientist Lin Researches Algae for Biodiesel
Lin is a scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and a professor of chemistry at Iowa State University. He has been teaching and conducting research in Ames since the fall of 1999. Lin was named ISU’s next John D. Corbett Professor in Chemistry, an endowed professorship awarded for a three-year period, which pays $100,000 each year.
Lin said the amount of biofuels needed to replace petroleum could be produced by extracting it from algae, and it would only use 2.2 percent of the crop space used by corn and soybeans in the United States.
Jake Petrich, chair of ISU’s chemistry department, said he thinks Lin’s research in this area is going to be very influential in coming years.
Lin also is helping to spur the biofuel effort through a company he founded called Catilin, which provides new technologies for biodiesel production.
