Mineral oils constitute a significant portion of all petrochemical waste products in industrial and transportation facilities. Their main application is in friction parts of machines and equipment to reduce friction coefficient and wear of the parts. Part surfaces are protected by a tenth of micron microfilm, formed by the lubrication oil.

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Despite being so thin, this film reduces part wear by hundreds of times. Statistics show that the amount of waste oil is approximately 40 million tons annually. Only half of this amount is collected and only one twentieth is processed.

Oil gradually becomes unusable due to oxidation, contamination with particles of the protected parts, dust and metal filings. All of the above changes the oil’s physical and chemical properties for the worse. The oil from internal combustion engines is the worst in terms of contamination.

Used oils are scarcely degradable in natural conditions and pose a serious environmental hazard. Therefore they should be regenerated, being an excellent raw material for production of recycled oils.

The existing regeneration methods can roughly be divided into physical, combined physical and chemical, and chemical.

Centrifuge separation, settling, distillation and filtration and physical methods. Extraction, adsorption and coagulation are combined physical and chemical. Drying, hydrogenation, acid and alkali purification are chemical methods.

The simplest and the least expensive way to separate water and solid particles from the oil is settling. It can be performed in special settling tanks of varying geometry. Another relatively inexpensive method in terms of time and energy is centrifuge separation. Continuous or batch centrifuges also allow to separate water and solids from oil. Filtration helps to remove water and solid particles of any size form the oil. Distillation may be required to separate volatile fractions, such as gasoline, from the oil.

Coagulation results in larger particles, which can them be filtered out of the oil. Adsorption is the final method of purification with the use of bleaching clay, silica gel, alumina silicates etc. Extraction is performed to separate waste oil in fractions.

Caustic limestone and other water sensible materials are used for drying of oil. Hydrogenation involves treatment of the oil with hydrogen on the surface of a catalyst.

The above methods can be combined for increased efficiency. There is a wide range of equipment of oil regeneration and reclamation in the market today. The main criterion is versatility, i.e. the ability to use the equipment for regeneration and processing of various wastes abundant at any industrial facility. The use of such equipment may save significant funds.

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GlobeCore’s UVR-450/16B is one such versatile system. Apart from transformer oil regeneration, this plant can operate with turbine and industrial oils. It can also be used for lightening of HFO and diesel fuel, gasoline, gas condensate, kerosene etc.

External view of UVR-450/16 (C)

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The UVR-450/16B does not require readjustment for use with various oil products. The only changing parameter is the unit’s production capacity due to different viscosity of processed media.

If necessary, the unit can be operated either manual or automatically. Output product quality complies with the existing standards and regulations.