Developing cost-competitive and high-performance biolubricants from waste/non-edible oils (waste cooking oils and pennycress seed oil)

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Progressive Industrial Fluids Ltd. (PIFL) has been collaborating with Dr. Charles Xu (the PI of this proposal) on production of biolubricants from edible vegetable oils (canola, sunflower, soybean oils, etc.) through a Mitacs Accelerate internship project since September 2021. This new Alliance Missions project expands the scope of the ongoing Mitacs internship project to developing cost-competitive and high-performance biolubricants from waste/non-edible oils (waste cooking oils and pennycress seed oil) through a network approach, involving a multidisciplinary team comprising researchers in chemical and biochemical engineering, chemistry and biology at Western University and Lakehead University, and collaborators at CanmetMATERIALS and PIFL. The goals and expected outcomes of this partnership project are: (1) innovative and cost-effective chemistry and processes for valorization of waste/non-edible oils (waste cooking oils and pennycress seed oil) into high-performance biolubricant products; (2) demonstrated biodegradability of the developed biolubricants compared with the existing petroleum-based lubricants in the market; (3) anti-corrosion/anti-wear performance of the biolubricant products; (4) Filing of 1-2 patents to be licensed to the Industry Partner; (5) Training of 10 HQP and publishing of 10-20 journal/conference papers. PIFL is keen on licensing the IPs (patents) developed from this project and will keep working with the research team to conduct a techno-economic analysis and market analysis to prove the techno-economic feasibility of the technology. The Industry Partner will directly benefit from this project by the development of high value biolubricants with less environmental footprints. Conversion of waste/non-edible oils into high-performance bio-based lubricant products have both environmental and economic benefits. Future commercialization of the biolubricants will not only create new value streams for restaurants (generating large amounts of waste cooking oils that need disposal) and the agricultural sector (growing pennycress in marginal lands) but also reduce Canada's dependence on fossil fuels, cut greenhouse gas emission and contribute to the emerging circular/bioeconomy.