Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience: General Public Lubricants Formulators E.g. Croda, Lubrizol, Renewable Lubricants, BioBlend Equipment OEMs E.g. Caterpillar, John Deere, Komatsu, Kubota, PT Tech Component OEMs E.g. Bosch-Rexroth, Parker Hannifin, Oil Gear, Tuff Torq Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?VBASE® Oil Company is an active member of both the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) and the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA), attending and presenting at regional and national events/meetings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated through the VBASE® Oil Company website and LinkedIn pages with additional press releases in local business periodicals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Property modification via compositional alteration for application specific properties and metrics. [100%] Tetramer successfully developed a biodegradable base oil technology that led to the foundation of the VBASE® Oil Company. The base oils cover a range of ISO viscosity grades from ISO VG 32-100, which covers a significant viscosity range of the industrial lubricant marklet. Additionally, initial demonstration of higher viscosity oils from ISO VG 150-680 enabled expansion of baseoil development into gear oil and grease base oil viscosities. Objective 2: Additive package design and optimization for hydraulic fluids and gear oils. [100%] An additive package demonstrating exceptionally high stability, high wear resitance, and exceptional load carrying capacity was developed in partnership with an industry recognized additive manufacturer (Tiarco Chemical). This additive package enables the production of finished lubricants, utilizing Tetramer's proprietary base oil composition, capable of meeting the stringent specifications required for EU EcoLabel approval. Relevant certifications (NSF HX1, BioPreferred) have been attained or are in the process of being attained (EU EcoLabel). Objective 3: Explore non-industrial lubricant options for EPG as value added materials. [100%] Non-idustrial lubricant applications for the Tetramer base oil have shown potential but were not overly promising. For personal care uses, like fragrance carriers or petrolatum replacements, the materials would be subject to FDA approval/certification and would also require kosher certification as that is the going trend in that industry. This level of detail was clearly outside the scope of this work and would require a great deal of investmnent, both time and money, to validate the use case. As an additive in rubber/plastic compounding the Tetramer base oil(s) show promise but the impact is hard to directly discern given the numerous materials incorporated in these compounds. Additional work is planned as a rubber extender but work depends on the research timing and availability at the given rubber manufacturer. Future work in non-lubricant applications may be better focused on adjuvants in agricultural chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Objective 4: Transitioning from bench scale research to commercial product. [100%] Tetramer has successfully scaled production with more than 10 tons produced to date. A local toll manufacturer has the ability to provide 360+ tons of production capacity through the end of 2022 into Q1 2023, with the potential for expansion to 2700+ tons per year by the end of 2023. Tetramer is further validating manufacturing partners that will enable the production of an additional 3600 tons by the end of 2023 with projections in excess of 36,000 tons by the end of 2024.

Publications

Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience: General Public Lubricants Formulators E.g. Croda, Lubrizol, Renewable Lubricants, BioBlend Equipment OEMs E.g. Caterpillar, John Deere, Komatsu, Kubota, PT Tech Component OEMs E.g. Bosch-Rexroth, Parker Hannifin, Oil Gear, Tuff Torq Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?VBASE® Oil Company is an active member of both the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) and the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA), attending and presenting at regional and national events/meetings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated through the VBASE® Oil Company website and LinkedIn pages with additional press releases in local business periodicals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Property modification via compositional alteration for application specific properties and metrics. [100%] Tetramer successfully developed a biodegradable base oil technology that led to the foundation of the VBASE® Oil Company. The base oils cover a range of ISO viscosity grades from ISO VG 32-100, which covers a significant viscosity range of the industrial lubricant marklet. Additionally, initial demonstration of higher viscosity oils from ISO VG 150-680 enabled expansion of baseoil development into gear oil and grease base oil viscosities. Objective 2: Additive package design and optimization for hydraulic fluids and gear oils. [100%] An additive package demonstrating exceptionally high stability, high wear resitance, and exceptional load carrying capacity was developed in partnership with an industry recognized additive manufacturer (Tiarco Chemical). This additive package enables the production of finished lubricants, utilizing Tetramer's proprietary base oil composition, capable of meeting the stringent specifications required for EU EcoLabel approval. Relevant certifications (NSF HX1, BioPreferred) have been attained or are in the process of being attained (EU EcoLabel). Objective 3: Explore non-industrial lubricant options for EPG as value added materials. [100%] Non-idustrial lubricant applications for the Tetramer base oil have shown potential but were not overly promising. For personal care uses, like fragrance carriers or petrolatum replacements, the materials would be subject to FDA approval/certification and would also require kosher certification as that is the going trend in that industry. This level of detail was clearly outside the scope of this work and would require a great deal of investmnent, both time and money, to validate the use case. As an additive in rubber/plastic compounding the Tetramer base oil(s) show promise but the impact is hard to directly discern given the numerous materials incorporated in these compounds. Additional work is planned as a rubber extender but work depends on the research timing and availability at the given rubber manufacturer. Future work in non-lubricant applications may be better focused on adjuvants in agricultural chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Objective 4: Transitioning from bench scale research to commercial product. [100%] Tetramer has successfully scaled production with more than 10 tons produced to date. A local toll manufacturer has the ability to provide 360+ tons of production capacity through the end of 2022 into Q1 2023, with the potential for expansion to 2700+ tons per year by the end of 2023. Tetramer is further validating manufacturing partners that will enable the production of an additional 3600 tons by the end of 2023 with projections in excess of 36,000 tons by the end of 2024.

Publications

Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience: General Public Lubricants Formulators E.g. Croda, Lubrizol, Renewable Lubricants, BioBlend Equipment OEMs E.g. Caterpillar, John Deere, Komatsu, Kubota, PT Tech Component OEMs E.g. Bosch-Rexroth, Parker Hannifin, Oil Gear, Tuff Torq Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?While investigating the applicability of the base oils for hydraulic applications Tetramer was invited to join the Military Vehicle Industry Consortium (MVIC) Fluid Modernization group. The focus of the group is the development of high efficiency hydraulic systems primarily for military/government material handling equipment. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The research and commercialization tasks for this program have been divided into four objectives: Objective 1: Property modification via compositional alteration for application specific properties and metrics. [100%] Objective 2: Additive package design and optimization for hydraulic fluids and gear oils. [100%] Objective 3: Explore non-industrial lubricant options for EPG as value added materials. [80%] Objective 4: Transitioning from bench scale research to commercial product. [100%] Tetramer has been successful at developing a biobased and environmentally friendly base oil technology suitable for use in a wide variety of formulated industrial lubricants. Tetramer has demonstrated numerous base oil compositions that span a range of ISO VG from 46-100 utilizing widely available commodity materials. By using commodity materials Tetramer is able to produce a high performance synthetic base oil that is priced on par or slightly lower than current synthetic ester and PAG lubricants. A base oil test rubric was developed with input from 3rd party testing facilities to best quantify the performance of the neat base oils. An additive package demonstrating exceptionally high stability, high wear resitance, and exceptional load carrying capacity was developed in partnership with an industry recognized additive manufacturer (Tiarco Chemical). This additive package enables the production of finished lubricants, utilizing Tetramer's proprietary base oil composition, capable of meeting the stringent specifications required for EU EcoLabel approval. Relevant certifications (NSF HX1, BioPreferred) have been attained or are in the process of being attained (EU EcoLabel). Non-idustrial lubricant applications for the Tetramer base oil have shown potential but were not overly promising. For personal care uses, like fragrance carriers or petrolatum replacements, the materials would be subject to FDA approval/certification and would also require kosher certification as that is the going trend in that industry. This level of detail was clearly outside the scope of this work and would require a great deal of investmnent, both time and money, to validate the use case. As an additive in rubber/plastic compounding the Tetramer base oil(s) show promise but the impact is hard to directly discern given the numerous materials incorporated in these compounds. Additional work is planned as a rubber extender but work depends on the research timing and availability at the given rubber manufacturer. Tetramer has successfully scale production of the base oil at pilot volumes (100 gal.) with a local toll manufacturer and has verified capability to produce 750,000 gallons per year at this facility without additional capital improvements. With the manufacturing process derisked the final step to widespread adoption of Tetramer's base oil in formulated industrial lubricants is field trials of finished lubricants under specific application conditions (e.g. gear oil vs. hydraulic fluid) that will provide technical derisking of this platform technology. At the conclusion of this program Tetramer plans to continue work on these materials and pursue applications where increased efficiency and environmental acceptability are of immediate impact.

Publications

Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience: General Public Lubricants Formulators E.g. Croda, Lubrizol, Renewable Lubricants, BioBlend Equipment OEMs E.g. Caterpillar, John Deere, Komatsu, Kubota, PT Tech Component OEMs E.g. Bosch-Rexroth, Parker Hannifin, Oil Gear, Tuff Torq Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Tetramer has made significant progress over the first half of this research program toward the development of a new biobased industrial base oil technology platform. Tetramer has down-selected a composition that is high performance, cost competitive and scalable. This was accomplished by verifying the utility of whole cut fatty acids in the synthesis of the esterified propoxylated glycerol oils, trademarked as VBASE™. An extensive review of the technical requirements and market data for existing applications was performed and compared to the range of properties that VBASE™ can achieve. Balancing cost and performance of the base oil resulted in hydraulic fluids being down-selected as the beachhead application. Tetramer attended CONEXPO-CON/AG 2020 and IFPE 2020 (co-located) in Las Vegas in early March to interface with component OEMs, equipment OEMs, and end users. In numerous conversations with potential adopters, it was learned that economics are the key driver when trying to gain traction in the mobile hydraulics application space. With the stigma attached to synthetic lubricants (high cost, less durable, shorter lifetimes), it is imperative that a life cycle cost is effectively validated and communicated to build a convincing value proposition for the adoption of biobased lubricants. With this in mind, Tetramer spent a significant amount of time communicating with raw material suppliers to determine both cost and volume availability of the necessary components of VBASE™. Tetramer has also made moves to demonstrate cost effective scaling of the product and has located toll manufacturing partners in the Carolinas with the capability to produce VBASE™. With production de-risked, Tetramer is now focused on getting additive packages developed for the base oil for hydraulic applications. In partnering with an industry recognized additive manufacturer (King), Tetramer is preemptively reducing the technical risk associated with development of a new class of hybrid ester-polyalkylene glycol base oil. In Year 2, Tetramer will investigate efficiency gains for customers by switching to VBASE™ and use that data to assist in calculating the total life cycle cost for systems utilizing VBASE™. It is anticipated that VBASE™ will meet commercial success by diligently pursuing optimization and continuous improvement in the material and building a realistic value proposition for VBASE™ industrial base oil lubricants through the existing network of OEMs, end users, raw materials suppliers, and production partners. The research and commercialization tasks for this program have been divided into four objectives: Objective 1: Property modification via compositional alteration for application specific properties and metrics. [60%] Objective 2: Additive package design and optimization for hydraulic fluids and gear oils. [90%] Objective 3: Objective 3: Explore non-industrial lubricant options for EPG as value added materials. [30%] Objective 4: Transitioning from bench scale research to commercial product. [60%]

Publications