The time from basic engineering to completion of such a rerefinery typically takes 24 months, plus or minus four to six months, Williams told Lube Report yesterday. Lwart was ideal because its a company that is in used oil collection, he noted. They already have an existing rerefinery system, and theyre already producing base oils, so theyre already selling it.

The ideal client for CEP is someone that has access to used oil, he pointed out, which is sometimes taken for granted. You cant take that for granted, because the used oil is a significant part of the design of the plant, Williams added.

Based in Lencois Paulista, Lwart said it annually rerefines 140 million liters of used motor oil. According to its web site, Lwart has 15 collection centers throughout Brazil, teams of trained workers and its own fleet of more than 250 vehicles. They service more than 50,000 source locations, such as service stations, oil change centers, repair shops, factories, transport companies, and auto dealerships.

Lwart has two rerefineries – an existing one in Lencois Paulista in the state of Sao Paulo, and the other in Feira de Santana, in Bahia.

CEP said the new rerefinery will be the largest facility it has designed. According to Williams, the largest such project CEP has worked on so far is a 60,000 metric tons per year (1,150 b/d) Group II facility for L & T Recoil Oy in Hamina, Finland.

Lwarts largest existing rerefinery in Lencois Paulista also has about 60,000 metric tons per year base oil capacity, according to Stephen Ames, principal of SBA Consulting, Pepper Point, Ohio.

There is good demand for Group II there, he told Lube Report. And there is reasonable new demand for Group III as well.

Petrobras is currently the only company with any plans to build a Group II plant in the region, he pointed out. They keep delaying that, and its now out to the year 2016, Ames observed. No other company has a facility that would warrant the capital expenditure to produce Group II. What Lwart is trying to do is quite reasonable.

Rerefiners in general produce base oils that lack automotive API, ACEA and/or OEM approvals, he noted. This is due to the relatively small volumes and limited viscosity grades involved not warranting the large cost of approvals testing, Ames explained. Accordingly those rerefiners producing Group II quality often do not receive any premium for their base oils.

Resolution No. 362 of Brazils National Council on the Environment treats rerefining of used and contaminated motor oil as an environmental priority. All used motor oil is required to be collected and properly disposed of in a manner that doesnt negatively impact the environment. Disposal is prohibited in the soil, surface water, and sewer systems, and by discharge of waste water. National Petroleum Association directives in Brazil establish standards for management of collection and disposal of used motor oil.

Chemical Engineering Partners is an Irving, Calif.-based affiliate of Evergreen Oil, which operates an 800 b/d Group II rerefinery in Newark, Calif. CEP is responsible for licensing the rerefining technology developed at the Evergreen facility to third parties.