A team of scientists has found a way to repurpose common kitchen discards into an industrial electronic component.
As reported by Plastics Today, engineering-materials developer Envalior created a plastic made primarily from used cooking oil. Siemens has since used that plastic as the housing in a series of coupling relays — industrial components that act as a bridge between circuits and are often used to connect circuits with a low power load to ones with high power loads.
The oil, previously used for frying by restaurants, snack bars, food-industry businesses, and households, could no longer be used for human or animal consumption, making it perfect to use in this new application. And the plastic created using this oil is flame-resistant and can withstand high temperatures, allowing it to work well within electrical components.
"A key success factor in this project was achieving excellent flow behavior in thin-walled designs … while achieving excellent biowaste source content — all without compromising on quality," Envalior's Marc Rudolf told Drives & Controls.
Finding a way to reuse cooking oil could keep a considerable amount of waste out of landfills and waterways.
More than 200 million tons of various vegetable oils are used globally each year, such as palm, soybean, peanut, and olive oil. Although not all of that is used for cooking purposes, an estimated 3.7 billion gallons of used cooking oil were available globally in 2022, and the market for such oil is expected to grow by 6% each year.
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This has led research teams to find several different, environmentally friendly ways to reuse this oil, keep it out of landfills, and promote the circular economy.
One company turned used cooking oil into a renewable fuel that powered an iron ore mine in Australia. Another has used cooking oil and water to help reclaim valuable materials from old lithium batteries. And now, it has been used to create this biomass-led plastic.
Even the shipping material for these coupling relays is environmentally friendly, as they get mailed in sustainable cardboard boxes. Their instructions are also available electronically, which eliminates paper waste.
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