SECTOR FOCUS: RE-REFINING
Towards a circular economy - transforming used lubricating oils into high quality base oils
Laura Carter, Slicker Recycling Limited, UK and Tommi Järvinen, Avista Green ApS, Denmark
Sustainability, the Green Agenda and Circular Economy are all topics that are currently in high fashion as the world makes managing Climate Change a top priority on the political stage. It is not difficult to see the sense in following a circular model of manufacturing, collection, recycling, and reuse. For those in the lubricants industry this is not news. As early as 1975, the first specific waste oil European Directive focused on the concept of priority being given to the regeneration of used lubricating oils that was subsequently given increased weight as the Directive was modified through a number of iterations. In 2008 the Waste Oil Directive was subsumed in the wider ranging Waste Framework Directive that in turn was amended in 2018.
At each stage the opportunity was taken to put into the Directives’ language a set of conditions to further drive the fate of used oil into a more robust circular model. Despite that, interpretations of the Directive’s requirements led to a range of solutions delivered across the European spectrum, but one thing became clear, and that was to build confidence in the market adopting regenerated oils. The need was to see investment in high performance technology in order to mirror the qualities that are placed on the market by the mainstream primary refiners.
The lubricants industry is a mature one and based on a wide range of performance attributes and specifications where the foundation of the business is proof of quality supported by brand reputation. Lubricant marketers will not risk their reputation using something that does not meet their standards.
16 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.166 DECEMBER 2021
In the early days of used oil re-refining, a number of novel technologies were deployed, but few were found to deliver the exact quality of base oil the market demanded and at a scale that would justify developing formulations requiring extensive and expensive approval testing programmes. Having to deal with a contaminated waste that contained soot, water, wear metals, partly spent performance chemicals – but still holding a valuable resource of a core of useful remaining base oil, re-refiners learnt fast and responded by developing new technologies that were costly, but in order to be economic they could be operated at a large scale.
Today we see European re-refineries operating in a range up to some 120,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) that can produce not only the correct product for the market, but consistently so and running under permitted conditions that ensure compliance with both waste and chemical laws.
One such operation is the 2019 joint venture between Slicker Recycling’s parent company, Greenbottle, and Avista Oil, Germany, which led to the formation of Avista Green ApS., Denmark, which then went on to build a 100,000 tpa re-refinery at Kalundborg that could be fed by water. The choice of site was driven by addressing a key problem: how to ensure a continuous supply of good quality used oil feedstock? Those in the lubricants industry that blend, fill packages, or distribute lubricants in bulk, will know that effectively supplying their customers in real time is key to being successful.
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