What Everyone Needs to Know About Re-Refined Oil

Each year Californians purchase roughly 150 million gallons of lubricating engine or crankcase oil, and industries purchase roughly another 150 million gallons of industrial oils. Only half of the lubricating oil and 7% of the industrial oil is recycled. 20% of this oil is probably spilled or burned up during use. The rest is buried in landfills or disposed of illegally.

These facts seem to suggest that it must not be profitable or efficient to recycle used oil. But this is not the case. It takes only a third as much energy to re-refine used oil into base stock than it does to make the same base stock from extracted crude oil. Also, 1.6 gallons of used oil can be converted into a gallon of re-refined lubricating oil, while it takes nearly 70 gallons of crude oil to get a gallon of virgin lubricating oil. Chemical Engineering Partners, the re-refining component of Evergreen Oil, one of only two re-refiners of oil in the entire United States, describes the business of oil recycling in this manner: "The [pick-up] fee, when combined with the transportation cost to the plant, yields the net cost of oil at the facility. The used oil is then processed to yield lube base stocks, fuel oil and asphalt flux. Proceed from the sale of products, when adjusted for the raw material cost, processing cost, depreciation and other expenses over the life of the plant yield the return on investment. Though the actual rate of return is dependent on many factors, figures in the range of 20-25% per annum are normal.

There are many environmental entrepreneurs hoping to tap into this easy source of profit. There are currently four ways used oil can be recycled. Reconditioning used oil on site at businesses, which involves removing impurities and using the oil again, does not restore the oil to its original condition but does prolong its life. Used oil can also be inserted into a petroleum refinery as a feedstock, either at the front end or into the coker to produce gasoline and coke. If water and particulates are removed from used oil it can be burned as fuel to generate heat or to power industrial operations (currently 75% of used oil ends up used in this way). Re-refining oil removes impurities so that used oil can be converted back into base stock to make new lubricating oil. Re-refining oil prolongs its life indefinitely, therefore using less energy and less virgin oil, and so is the preferred method of closing the recycling loop. However, all of these methods are preferable to burying oil in the ground. Innovative entrepreneurs are working to bring devices to market that address each of these emerging profit centers. For example, there are machines available for purchase that can convert used oil into free heat, asphalt or diesel fuel at your business site.

So, if it is cheaper to make oil products from used oil than it is to make oil products from crude oil, then the obstacle to oil re-refining must be that re-refined oil isn't as good as virgin oil. But this is also not the case. Lubricants made from re-refined base stock must undergo the same tests to achieve certification by the American Petroleum Institute (API) as virgin oil base stocks (tests for cold start and pumpability, rust corrosion, engine wear, high temperature thickening, deposit and phosphorous). Achieving this API certification means the oil will not void any warranty on a new or used car purchased from a dealer. Many large fleets use re-refined oil, including the California Highway Patrol, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Department of General Services, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, CalTrans, the U.S. Armed Forces, the U.S. Postal Service--as well as cities like Thousand Oaks and San Francisco and counties like Kern County. Private company fleets employ re-refined oil as well: Granite Construction, Waste Management, SBC, Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, and even cars on the NASCAR race circuit. But it remains true that the greatest obstacle to the demand for used oil is the unsupported belief that used oil cannot be re-refined to the quality of virgin oil.

The final obstacle, however, is that used oil in California is in the possession of hundreds of thousands of individuals and businesses, and must be aggregated in an efficient, safe and uncontaminated manner. The fate of re-refined oil requires the cooperation of all Americans.

Used Oil, the Hazardous Waste That Can Be Recycled.

• One pint of oil can produce a slick larger than a football field. One gallon of oil can foul the taste of a million gallons of drinking water, the supply of 50 people for one year.

• Americans spill 180 million gallons of used oil each year into our waters - 16 times the amount spilled by the Exxon Valdez in Alaska.

• Oil dumped on land reduces soil productivity.

• Films of oil on the surface of water prevent the replenishment of dissolved oxygen, impair photosynthetic processes, and block sunlight, which kills fish and other aquatic life.

• Concentrations of 50 to 100 parts per million (ppm) of used oil can foul sewage treatment processes.

• Each year the U.S. generates 425 million used automotive oil filters containing 160,000 tons of steel (enough to build 16 sports stadiums) and 18 million gallons of oil. After 12 hours of hot draining, a used oil filter is still nearly 40% oil by weight.