Evaluation of available technologies for managing used automotive lubricating oil

Abstract

The evaluation of available technologies for managing used lubricating oil (ULO) carried out in this work comprised five main stages; collection of data, process description analysis, environmental impact assessment, pollution control approaches and cost effectiveness anslysis. Most of data used in this work were secondary data obtained from the textbooks, journals, theses, proceedings, patents, environmental impact assessment reports, environmental monitoring reports amd personal communication with responsibility organizations. There were two main approaches for the management of ULO. The first approach was to regenerate the ULO, which consisted of 5 case studies: acid clay treatment, chemical and clay treatment, solvent extraction process, distillation-clay filtration and membrane technology. The second approach was to recover the ULO as fuel which consisted of 2 case studies : combustion as fuel in boiler, and direct burning in cement kiln. The environmental impact assessment suggested that significant problems associated with the management of ULO involved the contamination of heavy metals in waste streams from the regeneration processes, and the generation of air pollutant e.g. particulate, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and heavy metals from the recovery process. This research finally proposed pollution control approaches in accordance with the environmental impacts, and also provided cost effectiveness analysis. Furthermore, this study also established a computer program, called ULO Management Tech using visual basic and Microsoft access for the investigation of environmental impacts from regeneration and recovery of ULO as fuel. This is useful as a decision-making tool for selecting a suitable technology for the management of ULO.