How is used oil used?

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Im sure a portion is reclaimed and recycled as New Gen. etc. Ive heard its is strained filtered and sold to ocean going vessels to blend with fuel. Inquiring minds
 
Waste oil + old water heater tank = free heat in garage
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Sometimes it is rerefined enough to be used as home heating oil in a furnace.

I don't know much about oil furnaces because in Florida, using household AC as a heat pump is good enough for the few cold days we have.
 
Originally Posted By: KDonkey
Waste oil + old water heater tank = free heat in garage
smile.gif



Did you make the heater yourself?
 
In the northeast, most indy shops burn waste used oil in waste oil heaters. But a lot does get picked up and I assume re-refined.

There is a lot unaccounted for.

Walmart sells a lot of oil in each store daily, maybe 50 or 100 gallons. In the return oil log at Walmart they get 5 - 10 gallons a week.
 
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I think oil consumption takes a huge toll on how much oil is available for recycling.

My truck only uses about a qt every 10k miles which adds up to almost 20% loss every OCI. My car does a little worse at a qt every 2k which means 40% of the oil is burnt.

I know there are a lot of cars on the road that don't burn any oil, but there are a lot of cars that do.
 
The guys at our local "oil recycling facility" burn it to heat their homes in the winter.
 
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Originally Posted By: Donald
In the northeast, most indy shops burn waste used oil in waste oil heaters. But a lot does get picked up and I assume re-refined.

There is a lot unaccounted for.

Walmart sells a lot of oil in each store daily, maybe 50 or 100 gallons. In the return oil log at Walmart they get 5 - 10 gallons a week.


My local township has an oil collection tank and plastic drums for oil bottles and filters. They collect enough oil (I do my part
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). They collect enough oil to heat their garages during the winter (several large buildings)
 
Years ago, the citrus growers in Florida would burn used oil in heaters specially designed to keep the trees and fruit from freezing during cold weather. They were called "smudge pots" and each tree had a heater and to me, it was a pretty sight on a cold clear night seeing all those heaters lined up and glowing cherry red. It's now against the law to do this, but it was all the rage about 30 years ago. (You can still use the heaters by the way, but you have to use either kerosene or diesel fuel which is very expensive). Do a google image search on "smudge pot for citrus groves" and you'll get an idea of what they looked like. Imagine lighting 1,000 of those in one night.
 
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Ive heard its is strained filtered and sold to ocean going vessels to blend with fuel.
Not exactly. Heavy fuel oil might need "cutter stock" blended into it to get to the specified specific gravity, usually not more than 0.98 @ 60°F. This is done by the oil supplier, not on board. Cutter stock can be anything that is light and thin and flammable (but not too), usually the cheapest thing around. The flash point of the final blend must be over 150°F and there are other requirements to be met. Nobody knows what cutter stock is used--one way to dispose of flammable toxic waste, but keep quiet about it. Used motor oil wouldn't need to be strained or filtered.

Years ago "re-refined" oil was just deeply filtered and re-additized. Poor product. Modern re-refined oil has been through the hydrotreatment process to de-oxidize and can be OK. Used oil can be added to the crude oil stream at the refinery in small proportions. Or it can be mixed with other oils and used to make road paving asphalt, industrial heavy heating oil, etc. As I understand it, the only ecological benefit of re-refining oil is that less energy is consumed to re-refine than to refine lube from crude. If not re-refined, used oil will be burned rather than burning virgin fuel oil.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald

Walmart sells a lot of oil in each store daily, maybe 50 or 100 gallons. In the return oil log at Walmart they get 5 - 10 gallons a week.


Do they fill it out or is it on the honor system? Our AAP and AZ just send you to the back to dispose of the oil. And then it's on the honor system to fill out the log. I know I never do.
 
Originally Posted By: itguy08
Originally Posted By: Donald

Walmart sells a lot of oil in each store daily, maybe 50 or 100 gallons. In the return oil log at Walmart they get 5 - 10 gallons a week.


Do they fill it out or is it on the honor system? Our AAP and AZ just send you to the back to dispose of the oil. And then it's on the honor system to fill out the log. I know I never do.

I deal with the same problem at places I go. Most places have a log book, but not every employee actually remembers to get signatures, and even if they do, they count on the customer to accurately state the volume of oil deposited, in gallons. I wonder how many people confused quarts or liters with gallons.
 
I remember seeing used oil sprayed on dirt roads to keep the dust down.
And seeing old timers spraying it as undercoating for rust prevention on various vehicles.
 
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Walmart sells a lot of oil in each store daily, maybe 50 or 100 gallons. In the return oil log at Walmart they get 5 - 10 gallons a week.
More than that drips on the parking spots from their customers' cars.

A local gas station owner years ago just pulled the plugs on the logging trucks' sumps on the dirt around the station to keep the dust down. When he retired and sold the property, it cost him as much to clean it as he got.
 
My used engine oil, gear oils, and power steering fluid get poured into the fuel tank of my diesel pickup. I've run up to 10% waste oil, and have not had any problems. The engine has a little less combustion noise and maybe makes slightly better fuel economy.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
My used engine oil, gear oils, and power steering fluid get poured into the fuel tank of my diesel pickup. I've run up to 10% waste oil, and have not had any problems. The engine has a little less combustion noise and maybe makes slightly better fuel economy.

I had an automotive teacher tell me about being able to use 2% used oil in heavy machinery many years ago. He said it was great because the engines would start more easily, and because he was working on the side of a cold mountain, the engines needed all the help they could get.
 
Back in the day, the 70s, a guy specializing in Italian cars I knew would simply dump the used oil from customers' cars into the public sewer (the drainage grate at the curb). Can you imagine that?

I dump my used oil in my home furnace, a gallon now and then.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
My used engine oil, gear oils, and power steering fluid get poured into the fuel tank of my diesel pickup. I've run up to 10% waste oil, and have not had any problems. The engine has a little less combustion noise and maybe makes slightly better fuel economy.

is this an environmentally safe method ?
 
Originally Posted By: fpracha
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
My used engine oil, gear oils, and power steering fluid get poured into the fuel tank of my diesel pickup. I've run up to 10% waste oil, and have not had any problems. The engine has a little less combustion noise and maybe makes slightly better fuel economy.

is this an environmentally safe method ?


A lot safer than what the guy Nayov knew was doing. Almost 90 percent of recycled oil ends up getting burned some way or another; I'd think burning it in a diesel engine would if anything be a bit less polluting than just burning it in a furnace. Bigger concern would be how well the engine's emissions equipment deal with it, though that shouldn't be too big of an issue if it's pre-EPA'07 motor.
 
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