Researchers at Tufts University added equal volumes of distilled water, lye and Protein Matrix to bacon fat obtained from the University’s kitchen. After shaking for 5 minutes, the contents of each jar were poured through screen mesh. While water did nothing to the fat and lye formed a reaction product that solidified within hours, Protein Matrix actually converted fat into byproduct that has remained in liquid form for more than 15 months at room temperature. Researchers then performed chemical analyses on this byproduct to confirm that it is the result of conversion of fat to flowable and environmentally-benign fatty acids.