Friends of Gaviotas

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Innovation> Biodiesel

Biodiesel Installation
Workshop
April 2004
Bogota, Colombia

Friends of Gaviotas arranged Gaviotas founder Paolo Lugari’s October visit to the US in October 2003, which included a half-day visit to the Boulder Biodiesel plant in Boulder. When he saw the facility, Paolo realized that Gaviotas could mount a biodiesel operation for far less cost than he had originally thought. He invited the Boulder team to help him establish a biodiesel plant for Gaviotas, and immediately began brainstorming with them about how to set up a dual biodiesel and palm oil operation.

In April 2004, Friends of Gaviotas accompanied six volunteers from Boulder Biodiesel and the University of Colorado to Bogota for a biodiesel installation workshop. Together with staff from Centro Las Gaviotas, they built the first biodiesel plant in Colombia. It is the first in the world to utilize crude palm oil at a semi-industrial scale. The joint Colombian/North American team also converted one Gaviotas truck to using crude palm oil as fuel. With this plant, Gaviotas now is completely independent from fossil fuels.

University of Colorado article
Sustainable Resources article
Spanish-language article

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