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Waste Cooking Oils as Raw Material

Waste Cooking Oils (WCOs) pertain to the family of the Used Vegetable Oils (UVOs) are considered wastes dangerous for the environment.
Their production is massive and it is exponentially growing. As WCOs are mostly derived by frying processes, they are present as waste everywhere in our planet. Collection, disposal and recycling of WCOs is very important in order to reduce in part the impact of human activity on the environment.
I have been dedicating some time to specific research activity about the recycling of this waste, studying innovative ways for convert it in valuable raw material for industries. 
Although WCOs have been recycled mostly for bio-diesel production, they can be exploited for produce bio-lubricants, asphalt binders, bio-plasticizers, animal feed, green-solvents, and more (see “Innovative application of waste cooking oil as raw material”, https://doi.org/10.1177/0036850419854252).
Recently, we explored in particular the employment of recycled WCOs as bio-lubricant, developing a new protocol for easily recycle the waste in a mini-plant able to convert about 100 kg of waste into lubricant per day.
More information can be found in “Improving the recycling technology of waste cooking oils: Chemical fingerprint as tool for non-biodiesel application”, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2019.07.014.

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