From cooking oil to future materials? Yes, that's right!

What do you do with used cooking oil? Pour it down the sink? Store it in a jar? What if we told you it could become a bio-based plastics that replaces traditional plastics?

In our new project, TReResin, we are exploring ways to convert used cooking oil into highly crosslinked β-amino polymer resins, which can serve as thermally recyclable building blocks. In other words, we’re developing vitrimers from biogenic waste.

 What Are Vitrimers and Why Is This Revolutionary?
Traditional plastics are either thermosetting (practically impossible to break down or recycle) or thermoplastic (recyclable but not always durable). The recyclability of thermoplastics and the excellent mechanical performance of thermosets are combined in vitrimers, a potential new class of polymer glasses. Our developed vitrimers will combine the best of both worlds.

From French Fries to Science
Used cooking oil mainly contains fatty acid triglycerides. Through chemical modification, triglycerides can be modified to be usable as feedstock components for synthesizing bio-based resins. This means that biogenic waste streams—like used cooking oil—can, for the first time, be transformed into high-value polymer materials with industrial applications!

Why Is This Important?

• Less plastic waste—recyclable materials help prevent pollution.
• Biogenic raw materials—we utilize waste instead of fossil resources.
• High-performance materials—vitrimers can be applied in various sectors, from building materials to industrial adhesives.

At the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, our dream team—Ph.D. Anda Fridrihsone, Ph.D. Mikelis Kirpluks, and Mg.chem. Arnis Āboliņš — is pioneering the development of this technology directly from biogenic waste!The good news is that the life cycle assessment conducted early in the development phase will help us to identify the best processes to ensure this technology is not only efficient but also environmentally sound.

Project No. lzp-2024/1-0333 “Bio-based, Highly Crosslinked β-Amino Polymer Resins as Thermally Recyclable Building Blocks (TReResin)” is implemented with funding from the Latvian Council of Science.