Vehicle and Cooking Oil

[martin]

ps, just done it for you - it works now!

[WeBuyWasteOil]

ps, just done it for you - it works now!

Thanks! I didn't realise that was what was being referred to, I thought there was something wrong with the site's security itself.

Thanks again Martin 

[julian]

Can i ask what happens to the waste motor oil?

Im just curious - i have no vested interests!

Does it go to marine transport
Power gen
Refined back into lubricants

or somthing else?

Like i say, i just wonder what happens to it all, and you obviously know!

Thanks, Julian

[WeBuyWasteOil]

Hi Julian,

Thanks for the question

The waste motor oil goes through a number of re-refining processes such as testing, distillation, hydrogenation and eventually separation which leaves us with three different grades of lubricant as you have mentioned. Additives are then introduced to these three grades of oil to create final resealable products after quality testing has been completed.

Let me know if you would like a more in-depth explanation.

[SteveH]

 It's a dirty world out there... No "Pussy Talk" please WBW... all adults in here (Mostly)...

 Some of use might have ethical issues with how you make a crust... But we all have to survive...!

 The whole story & nothing but please....

 Respect....

[julian]

Some of use might have ethical issues with how you make a crust...

Doesn't the chap run a recycling firm?

What would you rather he do?

[julian]

Hi Julian,

Thanks for the question

The waste motor oil goes through a number of re-refining processes such as testing, distillation, hydrogenation and eventually separation which leaves us with three different grades of lubricant as you have mentioned. Additives are then introduced to these three grades of oil to create final resealable products after quality testing has been completed.

Let me know if you would like a more in-depth explanation.

Im interested.

Someone came onto the uk biodiesel forum a while back posting about a device they were trying to sell to distill WMO for fuel use.  I was quite interested from a technical point of view, but they were more into 'selling' than talking, and vanished again pretty quick (they were based in the czech republic, and, realistically the market for such a device in the uk would be minimal, due to the taxation situation)

Ive wondered quite a bit what happens to all the WMO, and you can certainly enlighten me.  Id be interested in as much detail as you can be bothered to write!

[SteveH]

 Got me wrong... Open discussion here & a lot of experience... In lots of area's...

[WeBuyWasteOil]

Hey Julian,

There are actually three main ways of handling the waste motor / vehicle oil which are:

1.) Distilling the waste oil into a type of diesel / marine fuel used for internal combustion engines (as it does not need heating due to having a low viscosity). This is done in a process similar to regular oil refining but without the hydrogenation stage as mentioned above.

2.) Combusting the waste oil in blast furnaces, plant boilers, cement kilns, etc.

3.) The method we use: Oil in it's most natural state needs refining so processing waste oil is known as re-refining. This process involves removing impurities such as chemicals and dirt from the waste motor oil, tests have to be carried out first however to ensure it's suitable to undergo the process. The waste oil is dehydrated first removing water and light fuels while industrial fuel is also separated from the used motor oil. Vacuum distillation then takes place which involves reducing the waste oil to evaporation allowing the lubricant fraction to be taken away to be later used as lubrication oil.

We are now left with a "heavy" oil that contains the motor oil's remaining additives such as detergents. The lubricant fraction (also known as lube cut) then undergoes the hydro treating process to remove additional chemical compounds and douse carbon chains with hydrogen to improve the stability of the fraction. This lube cut then faces a final separation process to achieve the three different grades of oil:

i) High viscosity for high intensity / heavy duty applications.
ii) Low viscosity for industrial and vehicle applications.
iii) Light viscosity for general lubricant applications.

We then reintroduce the correct detergent and anti-friction additives into each grade of oil to finalise the products ready for resale.

[acresswell]

Really interesting to read this thread... thank you for sharing.  I'd wondered what happens to the waste engine oil from my local tip...

We are now left with a "heavy" oil that contains the motor oil's remaining additives such as detergents.

What do you do with the "heavy oil" with those unwanted additives?

I suspect it might go this route:

Combusting the waste oil in blast furnaces, plant boilers, cement kilns, etc

never a fan of burning stuff (except for logs in my stove) but at least it'll be at high temperature...

[Ivan]

I'd be interested in your views on burning WMO. There are quite a few people who do this, as a source of free energy, but there's also a lot written about heavy metal content and pollution caused by doing this - do you have access to lab analyses of WMOs? And what's your opinnion? I guess whatever pollutants are in the oil end up in the concentrated heavy oil you get after distillation, which presumably presents a disposal problem too?

[Philip R]

Ivan,

The additive package in motor oils will leave an ash residue. I believe calcium sulphonate is used as part of the package to control the TBN ( Total base No. (Alkalinity of the oil)). A whole host of other compounds used to improve the lubricity of the lubricant.

Whatever the oil is burned in, good filtration is essential to remove particulate, otherwise the injector or nozzle will block up rapidly

If the oil were to be burned in a diesel engine, I would sugest that slagging/ coking of the injectors would occur, ash/ coking around the top land of the piston would lead to rapid polishing of the bore honing, resulting in poor compression, excess oil consumption and destruction of the engine. If catalysed, the honeycomb would choke and the cat poisoned.

If burning in a stove, ensure a clean non smokey flame by ensuring good spray pattern and supply of combustion air. Do you have a smoke pump/ comparator for setting up oil burners. I would summise that burning WMO would require regular maintenance intervention due to the variabily of the fuel source.
PhilipR

[Ivan]

Very interesting - thank you for your input. My main concern with WMO burning is the potential for heavy metals contamination - coming from white metal bearings in the engine (antimony/lead?) - I've heard about this, but I don't know to what extent these metals are actually in the oil. Certainly a lot of the colour of dirty oil is caused by metal contamination, but how much heavy metal, I don't know.

[WeBuyWasteOil]

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't posted here for a while, it's taken a while to get our site updated so I've wanted to get that completed first.

We took a lot of feedback received from this thread on board so I just want to thank you all for that. Main areas have been addressed which were mentioned in earlier comments by members of this community but I'm still open for suggestions if any of you think anything needs adding / changing still.

Congratulations on having a friendly forum by the way, I've been on others and they haven't been taken too kindly (as some of you have seen  ). I hope these updates clear any initial negative impressions you had about us!