VBase
Sustainable, high-performance synthetic ester base oils.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
* | $250k | Grant | |
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
VBase Oil Company is a producer of sustainable, high-performance synthetic ester base oils designed to minimize environmental impact. The company was formed in October 2021 as a spin-off from Tetramer Technologies, LLC to commercialize a new class of industrial base oils and lubricants. The underlying Secondary Polyol Ester™ (SPE™) technology was developed over nearly a decade by scientists and engineers at Tetramer, with partial funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and the USDA.
The core of VBase's offering is a novel class of API Group V base oils built with SPE™ chemistry. This technology gives the oils a unique molecular structure that provides high hydrolytic and thermo-oxidative stability, varnish resistance, and excellent low-temperature performance. A key differentiator from traditional polyol esters, which can be susceptible to hydrolysis, is the SPE™ structure that provides superior stability in the presence of water. VBase products are bio-based, readily biodegradable, non-toxic, and non-bioaccumulating, making them suitable for formulating Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants (EALs). They have received certifications including the EU Ecolabel LuSC list, USDA Certified BioPreferred, and NSF HX-1 for incidental food contact.
The company's business model focuses on supplying these advanced base oils to lubricant blenders, formulators, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). By providing the base oil, VBase enables its customers to develop specialized, sustainable lubricants for a wide array of applications, including hydraulic fluids, gear oils, greases, and turbine oils for industries like marine, agriculture, forestry, and power generation. In addition to its base oils, the company offers a fully formulated turbine oil, Hydro T-EL™, specifically for hydropower dams. VBase also provides in-house technical support, including compatibility testing and characterization, to its partners. As part of its commitment to a circular economy, the company plans to work with customers to recondition, repurpose, or remanufacture used oil.
Keywords: Secondary Polyol Ester, synthetic base oils, environmentally acceptable lubricants, EAL, sustainable lubricants, biodegradable oil, lubricant formulators, API Group V, hydrolytic stability, bio-based lubricants, industrial lubricants, Tetramer Technologies, varnish resistance, food grade lubricants, NSF HX-1, USDA BioPreferred, hydropower turbine oil, circular economy, fire resistant fluids, ester technology