Waste mineral oils fundamentally consist of liquid mixtures of saturated hydrocarbons from the distillation and refining of crude oil and the relevant additives to produce lubricants. Depending on the application and origin, the waste oils contain the cracking and oxidation products resulting from ageing as well as foreign substances from the application processes (e.g. metal abrasion).
The regeneration of waste oils is based on different types of processes that have the same purpose: to eliminate water and all contaminants contained in the waste oils, to obtain Group I, II and III base oils, which have the same characteristic as the virgin ones. The most common phases of the process are: filtration, to eliminate particles and sediments; distillation, to separate water and lighter hydrocarbons, separation of heavier fractions through termal de-asphaltion or thin film evaporation and refining in order to produce different qualities of base oils.
supply chains that is able to account for its positive impact on the environment, thanks to in-depth studies based on LCA (Life Cycle Assessment). It can provide robust figures on the impact of using regenerated base oils instead of virgin ones to its clients, lube producers, helping them to account for their reduced impact on the environment.
First and foremost, regeneration has an important positive effect on CO2
savings. Each tonne of
regenerated base oil used instead of one from primary resources, creates a saving of 600-7002
kg of CO2
over the whole life cycle, with an evident contribution to the decarbonisation of the lube sector.
In addition, there is a significant positive impact regarding the reduction of local pollutants, such as NOx and SOx and particulate. The potential for carcinoma risk is strongly reduced.
Source: ifeu 2017
Figure 2: Schematic overview on the re-refining process of waste oil
Source: GEIR 2019, Oeko-Institut
An example of the re-refining process is the proprietary one of Itelyum, which in its two plants of Pieve Fissiraga (Lodi) and Ceccano (Frosinone), in Italy has the capacity to treat around 180,000 tonnes of waste oils each year, producing GPI and GPII+ base oils.
This process allows the following performances of recycled products to be reached: from 100 kg of waste oil treated, the output consists of 65 kg of regenerated base oils, 22 kg of diesel and bitumen and 8 kg of purified water, leaving only 5 kg for subsequent treatments.
The waste oil regeneration sector is one of the few 2
Figure 3: Overview of the impact assessment results; all figures related to the particular result of “regeneration”, main bars: average result of the four techniques, deviation bars; range of the techniques
To conclude, the regeneration of waste oil for the recovery of base oils is considerably advantageous, especially in terms of resource preservation and allows for the reduction of dependency on imports of fossil sources, and corresponding price spikes due to the scarcity of raw materials.
Re-refining consistently reduces environmental pressures and it is possible to measure the positive impact with robust metrics. For this reason, regenerated base oils can be an enabler for the transition to a circular economy and for the decarbonisation of all the lube supply chain.
LINK
www.itelyum.com
Source: ifeu 2017 , “Updating the study Ecological and energetic assessment of re-refining waste oils to base oils Substitution of primarily produced base oils including semi-synthetic and synthetic compounds”
LUBE MAGAZINE NO.166 DECEMBER 2021
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