The government of a sparsely populated Russian district is promoting development of a tiny waste oil rerefinery as part of an effort to ensure that used lubricants are recycled.
Two ministries of the Komi Republic are seeking investors to help fund an oil collection network and construction of rerefinery that would produce fuel oil as well as base stocks. The project is part of the waste management strategy for republic, which is located near the Barents Sea, in northwestern Russia.
The rerefinery would use vacuum distillation and filtering, according to a press release by the state council. “The design of the complex assumes construction of a recycling facility with 3,000 tons per year of waste oil throughput capacity,” the press release stated. “This vacuum distillation capacity can achieve production of 2,100 t/y of [API Group I] base oil, 90 t/y of light fuel oil and 600 t/y of residual fuel oil.”
Komi has a population of 820,000, which ranks it 60th out of 85 federal subjects or jurisdictions, according to central government estimates. That number represents a 9% decline since 2010. The republic’s economy is based largely on processing of natural resources, including oil, timber and minerals. The waste oil project is part of a strategy adopted recently by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Protection of the Environment and the Ministry of Energy.
Authorities said the republic currently generates around 3,000 metric tons of waste oil per year, so the proposed rerefinery could process all of that miniscule amount. The ministries stated that they hope to have the facility built within a couple years.
Waste oil rerefining is barely practiced in Russia, although the country is among the world’s largest lubricant markets. The nation has one permitted rerefinery – operated by Rosa-1 in the city of Ryazan with capacity to make 24,000 t/y of base stocks.