Puralube recently opened a second rerefinery in Zeitz Chemical and Industrial Park in Troeglitz, Germany, doubling the sites actual API Group II base oil capacity to about 100,000 metric tons per year (about 1,900 barrels per day).
Harry Wadle, Puralube sales manager, said each plant has a real capacity of about 50,000 mt/y (950 b/d). The second plant is running now on normal capacity, and has been producing base oils for roughly four weeks, Wadle told Lube Report yesterday. It is the same size as the first one. Each plant has a nameplate capacity of 70,000 mt/y (1,340 b/d), he added.
The company inaugurated the second plant on Dec. 10, after a construction period of 15 months. Puralube said it invested 45 million (U.S. $60.8 million)to add the second refineryand created 45 new jobs, and that it now employs 100 people at the Zeitz location.
Wadle said the used oil that serves as feedstock for the refinery comes from all over Europe. We are using one exclusive collecting company, Baufeld, which is a 100 percent subsidiary of Puralube, he said. Baufeld has 25 years experience in waste oil collection and recovery, soil remediation, garage waste and industrial services. It was acquired by Puralube in 2002.
In September, Ineos Bamble AS and Puralube Nordic AS announced plans for a lubricant oil plant in Bamble, Norway. Puralube plans to invest 400 million Norwegian kroner (U.S. $57.5 million) in that new rerefining facility.
Puralube started its first rerefinery in Zeitz in 2004. It was the worlds first refinery to operate based on patented HyLube catalytic hydroprocessing technology. The technology was developed by Des Plaines, Ill.-based UOP, a Honeywell company. Puralube acquired exclusive rights to the technology in 1995.
According to a UOP technical paper, the HyLube process uses a proprietary feed treatment system that rejects the non-distillable portions of the used oil. The remaining oil, typically 90 to 95 percent of the original feed, is directly processed over a proprietary UOP catalyst. The company claims that the results include lube base stocks equal to virgin lube oils.
Frankfurt, Germany-based Puralube GmbH is a subsidiary of Puralube Inc. in Wayne, Pa.