I-Corps: Environmentally-Acceptable BioLubricants

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of an enabling technology for the cost-competitive production of biolubricant base-oils with better performance using 100% renewable carbon to meet growing customer pressure for sustainable products. The produced environmentally-acceptable products have a total over $60 billion global market and applications in industrial machinery, commercial and consumer automotives, grease, personal care products, turbines, transformers, aviation engines and machinery, marine vessels, hydropower production machinery, and others. Successful commercialization of this technology and products will bring multiple societal and commercial benefits. First, the designer biolubricants, guided by molecular simulation modeling, will bring market transformation for efficient and durable products. Second, the technology will bring feedstock flexibility for new and "greener" products innovation by utilizing the nation's abundant carbon neutral feedstocks; thus, addressing environmental eco-system concerns. Third, it will improve rural economies by utilizing the feedstocks and resources that are available in those areas. Fourth, educational benefits are an integral element of our proposed work, as it will provide opportunities to train technicians and early career researchers.This I-Corps project will gather customers' feedback and establish the commercial feasibility of this patent-pending technology on energy-efficient and atom-economic production of biolubricant base-oils with tailored molecular architectures and tunable specifications. Initial specifications, techno-economic analysis, and customer's feedback suggest that the products are cost-competitive and suitable for current high performance applications. Bio-degradability, and tunable specifications of the products will offer significant competitive advantages to the market. We will gather more customers' feedback through the proposed I-Corps National program to gain more market insight for products. Especially, we will (1) evaluate market gaps and customers' desire for next generation products, (2) validate the market entry strategy, (3) analyze competitions and competitive advantages for our products, (4) analyze and validate value-propositions and their fit to the market need, and (5) analyze the market price of competitors' products. The outcome of this market research will significantly advance the commercialization of our products and technology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.