According to the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Energy Information Agency, only 1 to 2 percent of a barrel of crude oil is refined into base oil while 50 to 60 percent of used oil input is recycled into base oil. Environmental benefits of rerefining over crude oil refining are many, rerefiners claim. The impact of primary oil production on fossil resource depletion is 34 times higher than that of rerefining, according to Ecological and Energetic Assessment of Re-refining Used Oil to Base Oils, conducted by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU), of Heidelberg, Germany.

Whats Being Collected?

In the hierarchy of the waste framework directive, recycling and rerefining ranks above recovery or burning of used oil, Detlev Bruhnke, president of the European rerefining industry (GEIR) told the Base Oil and Lubricants in Russia and CIS conference, in Cannes last December. Continuous development of modern green technologies in the field of rerefining resulted in the ability of the industry to produce high-quality base oils, which partly exceed the quality of virgin base oils, he said.

GEIR, a section of the Union of the European Lubricants Industry, found total lubricant demand in the EU stood at 5.7 million tons in 2012. The volume of collectable used oil amounted to 2.7 million tons in 2012, and the 27 member states succeeded in collecting 2 million tons of used oil. The continents twenty operating rerefineries, with total annual capacity of 1.3 million tons, rerefined 700,000 tons of used oil in 2012.

In Europe, Germany is the largest collector of used oil, garnering over 500,000 tons of waste oil in 2012. It is followed by the United Kingdom (which collected around 350,000 tons), France and Italy that collected approximately 220,000 tons each. Spain collected about 170,000 tons, and many other EU member states such as Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium and Poland collected between 50,000 and 80,000 tons each.

In 2012, only 35 percent of the EUs 2 million tons of collected waste oil was used for rerefining, according to GEIR. The major use of waste oil was burning with about 45 percent consumed as a replacement for heavy fuel oil and 10 percent as replacement for coal. In 2012, 10 percent of the collected waste oil was used for other means.

In 2011, these and other European rerefiners supplied a total of 550,000 tons of API Group I and Group II base oils, according to a Kline & Co. study. Viscolube and Avista Oil were the top producers, supplying 130,000 and 94,000 tons respectively of Group I base oil. Frances Eco Huile produced 64,000 tons of Group I base oil at its Lillebonne refinery, while Puralubes two units each produced 53,000 tons of Group II base oil.

Technology Is Key

The industry has seen tremendous development of rerefining technologies in the last 15 years, Bruhnke said. These processes have higher efficiency and less environmental impact due to their environmentally safer and nearly waste free [operation].

He suggested that the quality of rerefined Group I or Group II base oil products, depending on the technology, is similar to or even better than primary solvent neutral products. He said that modern technologies can produce rerefined base oils with the same or even better viscosity index, Noack evaporation loss and sulfur concentration as virgin base oils.

Bruhnke said that for modern rerefining techniques to meet the requirements of todays lubricants, the processes must produce high quality base oils, at a minimum comparable to that of virgin products. They must also be highly effective at eliminating hazardous contaminates such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and at conserving synthetic base oil components such as Group III and Group IV base oils. Finally, they must produce minimal waste and emissions, and operating costs should be low.

Besides modern in-line blending systems and effective production, lubricant manufacturing requirements include comprehensive know-how in the development of innovative products based on rerefined base oils and virgin base oils, Bruhnke said. This know-how can be used in the further development of rerefining technologies.

As a result of environmental regulations, additional value creation and higher profitability, several companies in the EU and the United States have begun marketing the environmental benefit of blending lubricants with rerefined base oils. Rerefiners interest in the importance of rerefining is demonstrated by the inclusion of an section (Article 21) in the waste framework directive. Used oil is the only waste, besides biowaste, that has its own article in the directive, Bruhnke said. It tackles many important issues such as that used oil has to be collected separately and treated according to the waste hierarchy. It also prohibits mixing used oils with different characteristics or with other kinds of waste or substances if this impedes their treatment.

Other rules for used oil management stipulated in Article 21 state member states must apply technical, organizational and economic measures to promote separate collection and proper treatment. Also, member states may restrict the cross-border shipment of used oils from their countries for incineration or co-incineration in another country, thus giving priority to regeneration.

Future Demand

GEIR found that European lubricant demand is forecast to remain stable between 2011 and 2020. But it expects production of rerefined base stocks to grow at an annual rate of 4.7 percent, led by new rerefining projects and better capacity utilization.

Citing Kline & Co. data, Bruhnke said, European rerefining capacities are expected to grow by 50 percent by 2020. [This output] could represent 25 percent of European base oil demand for the production of finished lubricants.

GEIR also found that the production of base oil by the European rerefining industry saves several hundred thousand tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year. Recycling of used oils in Europe contributes to the protection of the environment and safe disposal of hazardous waste, Bruhnke said. Compared to primary production, rerefining causes considerably lower environmental burden, protects natural resources and reduces emissions.

The IFEU report found that recycling cuts carbon dioxide emissions by at least 30 percent compared to primary oil production. In addition, compared to rerefining, primary oil production contributes two to three times more to global warming, six times more to atmospheric acidification and three times more to nitrification. Finally, carcinogenic risk potential is 15 times higher and fine particulate emissions are five times higher.