RECYCLING OIL: A QUESTION OF QUALITY

This article addresses the problem of recycling waste oil to benefit the economy and the country instead of polluting the environment. It is noted that after the contaminants are removed from used oil, what remains is a satisfactory basestock product. With the proper additives mixed in, recycled oil can apparently be as good as many virgin oils currently on the market. The 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act, directed the National Bureau of Standards to develop test procedures with could be used to establish the substantial equivalency of recycled oil with virgin oil for each potential use. The Act also called for revised policies to encourage procurement of recycled oil for military and nonmilitary federal uses. One of the principal barriers to recycling oil is quality. FTC regulations require used oil to be labelled as such in order to counteract inferior quality products being sold on the market. Another problem is collecting large quantities of used oil in an economic manner. Also, a 1975 tax law favored those companies using virgin oil products rather than virgin oil blended with reprocessed products. There are 20 applicable test procedures that are currently being used to specify virgin fuel oils, but no one has evaluated whether they are valid for specifying fuel oil made from used oil. Current research is focusing on what happens to the heavy metal contaminants from the gasoline and additives when recycled fuel oil is burned, and what their chemical forms are before and after combustion. Of all used oils, establishing the equivalency of motor oils recycled back into motor oils promises to be the toughest problem.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Bureau of Standards

  Department of Commerce, Office of Technical Publications
  Washington, DC  United States  20234
• Authors:
  • Jacobs, M
• Publication Date: 1977-6

Media Info

• Features: Photos;
• Pagination: p. 8-13
• Serial:
  • Dimensions NBS
  • Volume: 61
  • Issue Number: 6

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Additives; Blends; Costs; Environmental protection; Fuel oils; Motor fuels; Quality control; Recycling; Specifications
• Uncontrolled Terms: Quality
• Old TRIS Terms: Blended materials; Reprocessing
• Subject Areas: Environment; Finance; Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00167485
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 18 1978 12:00AM