Biomass-Derived High-Oleic Oils for Oleochemicals and Specialty Chemicals

Oleo is developing a biomanufacturing platform that converts non-food biomass into high-value lipid intermediates, including triacylglycerides (TAGs), free fatty acids (FFAs), and polyol esters of fatty acids (PEFAs). Our oils contain more than 70% oleic acid (C18:1), making them promising renewable feedstocks for oleochemicals, specialty chemicals, personal care ingredients, lubricants, and fuels. Preliminary technoeconomic modeling shows production costs at $931/ton.

Many industrial and consumer products rely on vegetable oils and their derivatives as feedstocks for surfactants, lubricants, emollients, and other oleochemicals. However, conventional oil supply chains face constraints related to feedstock availability, price volatility, and competition with food and agricultural land use. Oleo aims to expand the supply of high-performance lipid feedstocks by using domestically available, non-food biomass.

Oleo combines microwave-intensified hydrolysis with microbial fermentation to convert lignocellulosic biomass into lipid-rich oils. Our upstream process uses an acid catalyst and microwave energy to release fermentable C5 and C6 sugars from biomass, producing separate sugar streams from the hemicellulose and cellulose fractions. A non-GMO yeast then converts biomass-derived sugars into lipids that can be recovered and processed into useful intermediates. Our yeast strain is able to achieve 120% lipid accumulation by dry cell weight with 30% of lipids secreted outside of the cell.

Oleo has scaled its technology at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and achieved Technology Readiness Level 5 (TRL 5) for its integrated biomanufacturing platform.

Key technical milestones include:

• Scale-up of microbial fermentation to a 300 L aerobic bioreactor.
• Development of an acid-catalyzed, microwave-intensified hydrolysis process achieving fully quantified xylan conversion and up to 80% glucan conversion at the 8kW scale.
• Demonstration of separate C5 and C6 sugar streams from the hemicellulose and cellulose fractions of biomass.

Oleo is seeking industrial partners interested in evaluating biomass-derived high-oleic oils and developing renewable feedstocks for:

• Oleochemicals, surfactants, and specialty chemical intermediates.
• Personal care ingredients, emollients, and other lipid-derived ingredients.
• Lubricants and specialty ester applications.
• Renewable fuels and other lipid-based products.

We welcome conversations with potential partners to evaluate our oil composition, assess compatibility with existing processing and conversion pathways, and identify application-specific performance requirements. Potential collaboration pathways include sample evaluation, joint feasibility studies, formulation development, and scale-up partnerships.