Using Recycled Petrochem Products

[maw1124]

Has anyone thought of or used recycled petrochem products for auto maintenance purposes? I’m thinking mainly of motor oils, transmission and hydraulic fluids. The attached article is a rough estimate of what I’m thinking. It would be great if someone made a robust technology that made this viable at scale, for performance German vehicles. At short enough service intervals (like what most of us use), it seems like it could work, given the right processes.

What Happens To Your Old Engine Oil? - The Green Garage Network

Ever wondered what happens to your old engine oil? How is the oil recycled or how can you properly dispose of it? Read all about it here in our post.

www.greengaragenetwork.com

maw

 

[alabbasi]

So this 1963 article isn't viable anymore?

 

[TerryA]

Has anyone thought of or used recycled petrochem products for auto maintenance purposes? I’m thinking mainly of motor oils, transmission and hydraulic fluids. The attached article is a rough estimate of what I’m thinking. It would be great if someone made a robust technology that made this viable at scale, for performance German vehicles. At short enough service intervals (like what most of us use), it seems like it could work, given the right processes.

What Happens To Your Old Engine Oil? - The Green Garage Network

Ever wondered what happens to your old engine oil? How is the oil recycled or how can you properly dispose of it? Read all about it here in our post.

www.greengaragenetwork.com

maw

Somebody used to sell recycled oil on the cheap. It might have been Pep Boys. The only use I could ever see for it is in some old oil burner. You see them once in a while smoking down the highway.

It would never be put in my Benz or anything else I own.

lol

 

[JC220]

People here have waste oil burners in their garages to provide space heating with used engine oil. I believe it works well heat wise not sure of the environmental credentials though.

I take my oil to be recycled at a local council waste site but I am also told by them it goes to space heating.

 

[maw1124]

Somebody used to sell recycled oil on the cheap. It might have been Pep Boys. The only use I could ever see for it is in some old oil burner. You see them once in a while smoking down the highway.

It would never be put in my Benz or anything else I own.

lol

People here have waste oil burners in their garages to provide space heating with used engine oil. I believe it works well heat wise not sure of the environmental credentials though.

I take my oil to be recycled at a local council waste site but I am also told by them it goes to space heating.

Yeah… the genesis of the question was a new technology company and wondering why no one has been able to filtrate and reformulate the used stuff down to “as new” quality, for all practical purposes anyway. Such tech would actually be investable, it seems to me. It’s just lubricant, and I’m pretty sure what I’m about to take out of 3 of my cars looks about the same as when it went in 2 years ago.

maw

 

[nocfn]

There are corporations that are publicly traded that recycle petroleum products. Actually purchased a former "big oil" refinery in dixieland and converted it to refine used refined products. This is not an endorsement of the company nor the practice as such. YMMV - do your own research.

 

[gsxr]

Yeah… the genesis of the question was a new technology company and wondering why no one has been able to filtrate and reformulate the used stuff down to “as new” quality, for all practical purposes anyway. Such tech would actually be investable, it seems to me. It’s just lubricant, and I’m pretty sure what I’m about to take out of 3 of my cars looks about the same as when it went in 2 years ago.

maw

I think the challenge is that you are mixing many different viscosities, base stocks, and additive packages. After you filter out contaminants, the resulting mix would not be suitable for most engines. The article linked above discusses re-refining and then using in non-combustion applications, which makes a lot of sense:

Used engine oil can, in fact, be cleaned and reused. The old oil is refined into new oil, lubricants, fuel oils and used for raw materials. The old oil also comprises of metals which can be recycled. The refining process is:​

​

• Extracting water from the oil by putting it in large settling tanks, which allows separation of the oil from water.​

• The oil is filtered and demineralised to remove any inorganic material, solids and certain additives existing in the oil, giving a cleaner burner fuel for further refining​

• The following stage is propane de-asphalting to extract the heavier bituminous fractions, bringing forth re-refined base oil​

• Finally, the oil is distilled to produce re-refined oil suitable for usage as a lubricant, hydraulic or transformer oil.​

​

Otherwise, @JC220's suggestion is the most common use. A lot of shops in cold areas have waste-oil burners for heating, and AFAIK they are reasonably clean as well.

 

[LWB250]

To @JC220's point, when I was in the generator business we used waste oil to heat our very large (40' x 60') shop in the winter. We had a specialized furnace that was designed for just this, and it worked well. As we typically generated several hundred gallons of waste oil a month, it was easy to fill a couple of 500 gallon tanks throughout the year and use them to feed the furnace in the winter.

Not sure I would put any of that oil in another engine, however.

Dan

 

[maw1124]

Yes I’m wholly apprised on past and present processes and uses. Still I’m surprised no one has figured out how to filter transmission and hydraulic fluid. Yes @gsxr, motor oil is a bit more complicated because of the combustion process. But for non-combustibles, it seems that those should just get cleaned and reused. But what do I know, other than that the people who manufacture it really have no profit motive for that kind of technology. The rest of us (inventors, consumers, financiers, etc) don’t have that excuse.

maw

 

[gsxr]

...I’m surprised no one has figured out how to filter transmission and hydraulic fluid. ... But for non-combustibles, it seems that those should just get cleaned and reused. But what do I know, other than that the people who manufacture it really have no profit motive for that kind of technology. The rest of us (inventors, consumers, financiers, etc) don’t have that excuse.

Good point about non-combustion fluids. Hydraulic oil seems like a good candidate for re-use, although I'm not familiar with typical use cases.

ATF is a bit more complicated due to the additive packages and harsher environment vs the typical hydraulic oil.

And you are absolutely correct, oil mfr's have minimal incentive to recycle/reuse products when they make their money selling you fresh new juice.

 

[JC220]

Yes I’m wholly apprised on past and present processes and uses. Still I’m surprised no one has figured out how to filter transmission and hydraulic fluid. Yes @gsxr, motor oil is a bit more complicated because of the combustion process. But for non-combustibles, it seems that those should just get cleaned and reused. But what do I know, other than that the people who manufacture it really have no profit motive for that kind of technology. The rest of us (inventors, consumers, financiers, etc) don’t have that excuse.

maw

My late uncle used to own and work on a large amount of machinery. Tractors, diggers, combines, loading shovels & dozers that sort of thing.

Indeed when I was a teenager I helped him work on them. Like pulling engine sleeves from a CAT Dozer in the middle of a field that sort of thing!

I do recall that there was some place where he could buy "good used" engine oil. I think it was from a breakers yard so if they got accident damaged cars in all that engine oil went into one large tank and they sold drums of it cheap. I do not think it was filtered per say or if it was it would have been very rudimentary.

He used that cheap recycled oil for refills when he was working on that sort of large machinery which may have otherwise needed 10 or 12 gallon of new expensive motor oil to be able to fire it up and test it.

Probably not exactly what you mean but it was a form of used oil recycling which probably still goes on locally at least!

 

[alabbasi]

Heating is the way to go but those heaters are stupid expensive