Valorization of Waste Cooking Oil to Develop Next Generation Bio-based Lubricants for Electric Vehicles (Funding Agency: USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Research Collaborator: Agricultural Research Service Laboratory, USDA, PA, USA)

Future automotive sectors, especially electric vehicles (EVs), require efficient and highly customized lubrication technologies for heavy-duty, high torque, and acceleration operations. The contact conditions, referred to as the boundary-lubrication regime, are where the direct contacts between the mating surface asperities under low lubricating film thickness affect friction and wear behavior. Biolubricants are produced from renewable, non-toxic, and biodegradable natural resources, such as vegetable and animal-based oils. Waste Cooking Oils (WCO), which are two to three times cheaper than raw vegetable oils, can play a crucial role in this aspect.  There are a few to no systematic investigations evaluating WCO’s potential as an efficient lubricant. We plan to derive lubricant base oils after proper filtration and chemical modification of WCOs in this project.

Research Leads: Vikas Ayyadevara and Pial Das