Analysis and comparison of used lubricants, regenerative technologies in the world

• The acid/clay process has been banned in most developed countries although it is still widely used in the developing countries.
• Results of economic indices of reprocessing industry indicated the economic success of project.
• The acid/clay process has minimal environmental safety.
• Plasma technology can be use to convert the acidic sludge to diamond.
• Plasma technology can be an effective method for reducing the volumes of pollutants to zero.

Used lubricants can be an important resource for oil-producing countries. Lubricants are categorized as hazardous wastes as they contain high levels of environmentally toxic organic compounds such as PCBs, PAHs and heavy metals. A growing trend of regeneration and reuse of used lubricants has been seen in the recent years to supplement the conventional sources of energy. Thus, governments have focused on developing these recovery processes on an industrial scale. Evaluation of the individual techniques indicated that acid/clay process has the lowest cost and the highest environmental risk in comparison to the other regeneration technologies. Acidic sludge, a toxic by product of the formerly mentioned process, can be used as a raw material for production of economically valuable bitumen. The conversion is not only cost-effective, but it also reduces the environmental risk to a large degree. Economic indices and the quality of the obtained product showed that this process supports sustainable development.

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