Recycling

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Liquids

(Current Recycling Technology and Processes)

Motor Oil Recycling Process  (Page 1)

Motor oil is used and changed periodically in automobiles. With the amount of automobiles in today’s world, the amount of used motor oil has lead to recycling issues.  Recycling used motor oil helps to conserve natural resources, protect the environment, save energy and money.  Moreover, used motor oil can be reprocessed into fuel that is burned in furnaces, turbines, and power plants. Just two gallons of used motor oil can generate enough electricity to power an average home for one day or cook 48 meals in a microwave oven.  In the United States alone, over half of a billion gallons of motor oil are used annually.  Putting that into perspective, all of these motor oils can generate enough electricity to power 250 million houses for one day. After its normal use, motor oil usually becomes contaminated with various impurities such as dirt, water, chemicals or metals from the engine of the automobile.  Along with these impurities, motor oil is also insoluble and slow to degrade, which all threatens the healthiness of human, plants, animals and the environment, especially water and soil – one gallon of motor oil can contaminate one million gallons of freshwater or make a four-acre area of soil unusable for planting for decades. To save energy and to avoid contamination of our environment, we need to recycle motor oil. For a complete list of today's recyclable motor oil grades, please visit our section Current Recyclable Materials – Liquid.     Before we look at the recycling process, let’s find out what makes up the motor oil. There are three constituents of motor oil: 1.) Base Stock – refined or re-refined petroleum.  It composes 65%-70% of motor oil product. 2. Viscosity Enhancer – natural or synthetic rubber.  It composes about 15% of the motor oil product. As oil heats, it thins out and is less able to lubricate; this is why viscosity enhancers are added. Rubber expands as it heats, making the oil more effective as an engine/motor lubricant, and able to be effective over a broad range of temperatures. 3. The Additive Package – contains anti-corrosion chemicals, antioxidants, chemicals to guard against water intrusion, and other chemicals to improve performance. It composes about 15% of the motor oil product. Now, let’s take a look at the actual recycling process which also referred to as Re-refining process. MOTOR OIL RECYCLING (RE-REFINING) PROCESS: Step 1: motor oils are collected and send to an oil processor. Step 2: Oil processor tests the oil to identify any contaminants such as hazardous waste or lead. These solids are removed through a settling process separating the solids from the motor oil. Step 3: Other liquid such as water and gasoline are removed through a heat treatment or boiled off. Step 4: The three constituents mentioned above are separated.  Viscosity enhancer or rubber, and short molecules from base stock are sold to and utilized by the asphalt paving industry.  The remaining base stock is blended into new motor oil product.  While most of the chemicals of the “additive package” are used up during the life of the motor oil product, small amount of it may still be separated out during the re-refining process and recycled or disposed of as hazardous waste.

Figure: Mobile 1 motor oil. [Courtesy of: CBXman.com.]

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