Read how USDA-ARS scientists tame a weedy nuisance into a hearty winter cover crop that can be harvested for bio-fuel, animal feed, and food ingredient here!
BOR scientists Drs. Steven Cermak, Roque Evangelista, and Terry Isbell (retired) have been recognized as a 2026 Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Award Winner. The Pennycress Team will receive the FLC Award in Excellence in Technology Transfer, which honors Field Pennycress – Weed to Food, Fuel, and Feed.
USDA-ARS scientists are strengthening usage of domestic soybeans by transforming them into ricinoleic acid, a material with many industrial applications!
Renewable diesel demand is rapidly increasing in the US and can be used with current transportation infrastructure and fuel pumps!
BOR SY DeMichael Winfield was awarded the 2025 ACS Heartland Early Career Chemist Award!
Congratulations!
USDA-ARS researchers, including BOR Research Leader Steven Cermak, were recognized by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics (REE), with Technology Transfer Awards for the advancement of pennycress as a commercial off-season oilseed crop for the United States.
ARS scientists team up to fight flies.
Read the story.
Stable fly mouth part viewed through scanning electron microscope (SEM)
Plants give rise to biodegradable base oils-with a helping hand from science. Read the story.
In a field trial, the conventional motor oil formulation (left) had typical levels of varnish at the end of the test, while the ARS based formulation (right) showed a high degree of overall cleanliness and minimal varnish.
Congratulations to the BOR pennycress researchers!!!
Dr. Steve C. Cermak
Dr. Terry Isbell
Dr. Roque Evangelista
have won the 2022 ARS Technology Transfer award!
Soy-based hydrogel powder, invented by ARS, can be mixed with water to form a gel which has great potential to be a drug-delivery agent
Mission Statement
Scientists in the Bio‐oils Research Unit (BOR) develop new commodity plant oils and commercially viable industrial bio‐based products from new and existing vegetable oils that are technically and economically competitive with or superior to comparable existing commercial petroleum‐derived materials.
 |
Bio-Oils Research Unit OverviewSteven C. Cermak, Ph.D., Research Leader steven.cermak@usda.gov (309) 681-6533 |
 |
|
♦ Plant Genetic Resources, Genomics and Genetic Improvement (NP #301) |
Research Accomplishments♦ New commercialized bio-based crankcase oil Capabilities and Collaboration Areas♦ Only pilot plant with seed-oil-to product capability |
|
About Bio-Oils Research (BOR)
Mission Statement
Scientists in the Bio‐oils Research Unit (BOR) develop new commodity plant oils and commercially viable industrial bio‐based products from new and existing vegetable oils that are technically and economically competitive with or superior to comparable existing commercial petroleum‐derived materials.
Strategic Goals
Conversion of Vegetable Oils to Industrial Products:
Improve the properties of vegetable oils and their components so they can be used as industrial materials such as printing inks, coatings, lubricants, hydraulic fluids, greases, polymers, composites, surfactants, and adhesives.
Biobased Lubricants:
Determine the friction and wear properties of biopolymers for use in lubricant formulations; determine the reaction mechanism and products of the surface interaction process; and develop predictive models to obtain desired products.
Industrial Products from New Crops:
Identify new sources of raw materials from alternative crops; devise new analytical methods to analyze components; and develop optimum seed processing and industrial processes to recover value‐added products from new crops.
Primary focus
The primary focus of the BOR unit is product development from new industrial crops that possess certain agronomic and other beneficial features not found in traditional commodity crops.
Interdisciplinary expertise in chemistry, chemical engineering and agricultural sciences is used to generate new, commercially‐viable materials from agricultural feedstocks. This product development spans the full spectrum from discovery of new crops, their agronomic development and chemical conversion to industrially significant materials.
Equipment and expertise is available for planting and harvesting new crops, extraction of seed oil and refining and converting crude seed oils into highervalue bio-based materials and fuels. Additionally, the Unit contains an extensive collection of highly specialized instrumentation that is used to measure composition and physical properties of fuels, lubricants and other bio-based products.
These individual areas of expertise and equipment are leveraged in concert to generate a unique capacity for truly innovative breakthroughs.