New Zealand waste oil collection company Glide Oil officially opened its new base oil rerefinery on Monday in Pukekohe, south of Auckland, that could produce about 17 million liters of rerefined base oil annually, the company told Lube Report.
The Glide Oil plant will provide New Zealand, which imports its virgin base oil, with a domestic source of rerefined material. For now, the company aims to supply overseas lubricant blenders.
The plant has nameplate capacity to process 24 million liters of waste oil annually. Based on the company’s market assessment, that could represent 40% to 50% of New Zealand’s collectable waste lubricant at full tilt.
“Now there’s a option available for lubricant retailers and resellers to demonstrate significantly improved environmental outcomes for lubricant products sold in NZ without doing anything extra,” John Knox, general manager of Glide Oil, told Lube Report.
The last rerefiner in the country closed 30 years ago, Knox pointed out.
The company expects a base oil yield of about 72%, equivalent to about 17 million liters a year. Yields were higher during commissioning, but the company expects them to settle near 72% as it fine-tunes the process.
“That is theoretically around 99% of the base oil component in the waste oil feedstock,” Knox said. The remainder consists of water, light oils, fuels and residue.
Knox said the plant will typically produce base oil equivalent to an API Group I SN150 grade, although the feedstock available in New Zealand presents some challenges.
“Our flashpoint is slightly lower than this specification, so we are working to resolve this as we push the plant into full production,” he said. The company is also seeing strong demand for SN100 grade.
Glide reached practical completion on March 31, before commissioning was disrupted by engineering problems and odor complaints from nearby residents, local media reported. The company halted operations while addressing issues involving its thermal oxidizer and drainage system.