I-Corps: Environmentally-Acceptable BioLubricants

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响和商业潜力在于，开发一种支持技术，使用100%可再生碳，以具有成本竞争力的方式生产性能更好的生物润滑油基础油，以满足客户对可持续产品日益增长的压力。生产的可接受的环保产品在全球市场上的总价值超过600亿美元，并应用于工业机械、商业和消费汽车、油脂、个人护理产品、涡轮机、变压器、航空发动机和机械、船舶、水电生产机械等领域。这项技术和产品的成功商业化将带来多重的社会和商业效益。首先，设计生物润滑剂，在分子模拟建模的指导下，将为高效耐用的产品带来市场变革。其次，该技术将通过利用国家丰富的碳中性原料，为新的和“更环保”的产品创新带来原料灵活性；因此，解决环境生态系统问题。第三，它将通过利用这些地区现有的原料和资源来改善农村经济。第四，教育利益是我们提议的工作的一个组成部分，因为它将提供培训技术人员和早期职业研究人员的机会。I-Corps的这个项目将收集客户的反馈，并确定这项正在申请专利的技术的商业可行性，该技术可用于生产具有定制分子结构和可调规格的节能和原子经济的生物润滑油基础油。初始规格、技术经济分析和客户反馈表明，该产品具有成本竞争力，适合当前的高性能应用。生物可降解性和可调规格的产品将为市场提供显著的竞争优势。我们将通过拟议的I-Corps National program收集更多客户的反馈，以获得更多产品的市场洞察。特别是，我们将(1)评估市场差距和客户对下一代产品的渴望，(2)验证市场进入策略，(3)分析我们产品的竞争和竞争优势，(4)分析和验证价值主张及其是否适合市场需求，以及(5)分析竞争对手产品的市场价格。这项市场调查的结果将大大促进我们的产品和技术的商业化。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.