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

自2021年9月以来，Progressive Industrial Fluids Ltd. （PIFL）一直与Charles Xu博士（该提案的负责人）合作，通过Mitacs Accelerate实习项目，从食用植物油（菜籽油、葵花籽油、大豆油等）中生产生物润滑剂。这个新的联盟任务项目扩大了正在进行的Mitacs实习项目的范围，通过网络方法从废物/非食用油（废食用油和pennycrea籽油）开发具有成本竞争力和高性能的生物润滑油，涉及一个多学科团队，包括西部大学和湖首大学的化学和生化工程、化学和生物学研究人员，以及CanmetMATERIALS和PIFL的合作者。该合作项目的目标和预期成果是：(1)将废弃/非食用油（废食用油和pennycrea籽油）转化为高性能生物润滑剂产品的创新和具有成本效益的化学和工艺；(2)与市场上现有的石油基润滑油相比，所开发的生物润滑剂具有生物降解性；(3)生物润滑产品的防腐/抗磨性能；(4)提交1-2项专利授权给行业合作伙伴；(5)培训HQP 10人，发表期刊/会议论文10-20篇。PIFL热衷于授权从该项目开发的知识产权（专利），并将继续与研究团队合作，进行技术经济分析和市场分析，以证明该技术的技术经济可行性。行业合作伙伴将从该项目中直接受益，开发高价值的生物润滑剂，减少对环境的影响。将废油/非食用油转化为高性能生物基润滑油产品具有环境效益和经济效益。生物润滑剂的未来商业化不仅将为餐馆（产生大量需要处理的废弃食用油）和农业部门（在边缘土地上种植pennycrea）创造新的价值流，还将减少加拿大对化石燃料的依赖，减少温室气体排放，并为新兴的循环/生物经济做出贡献。

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.