Oil Recycling Question

[gsbodine]

Reading through the latest oil thread in Outboard Non-repair (which turned out to be interesting for a change), I came across where someone mentioned that changing oil often only contributes to the using up of oil supplies. Which made sense to me at first, but then I thought about the fact that I drop off my oil after changes at the county recycling center. <br /><br />I'm totally ignorant about what happens after that, and I figured somebody here knows. Do they just sell it to refineries to do something with it? What do they do to it? Clean it and put more addtives in it or what? How usable is old oil? As always, thanks for the enlightenment!

 

[ED21]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

Some industrial users burn it for heat. I don't know how it is processed or how they mix it w/ fuel oil.

 

[ndemge]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

http://www.recycleoil.org/

 

[ndemge]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

Q: What is recycled motor oil used for?<br />A: Used motor oil can be reprocessed into fuel that can be used in furnaces for heat, or in power plants to generate electricity for homes, schools and businesses. It can also be used in industrial and utility boilers, mixed with asphalt, blended for marine fuels, and other uses. Used motor oil can also be re-refined into lubricating oils that meet the same API/SAE specifications as virgin motor oil.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

When we had our car dealership we used the old oil to head the shop. Waste oil furnace worked great and kept us from having to keep all kinds of records about what we did with the oil - we just burned it!<br /><br />Our choice was, keep track of paperwork and pay to have it hauled away, or burn it for "free" heat.

 

[sangerwaker]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

When we went to the Black Hills, SD, there was an 1800's train ride that they burned used auotmotive oil in to power the locomotive.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

Here at the car dealership I work at we heat the shop with it. We also locally coat our frames and fill all the cavities in the car with it for rust proofing.<br /><br />On a brighter note.... All the Chevrolets we now sell have an oil monitoring system. It is monitored by the computer which keeps track of engine heat, starts, rpms and tells us when to change the oil. Some cars go 5000+ miles before it's time to change. Overall if you consider the worldwide savings on oil it can be a VERY significant amount. A good way to battle the $50+ a barrel price.<br /><br /><br />Bob

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

I'm actually going to open up a power generation facility soon, making about 1,000 killowatts running on used oil.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

Recycling oil is definately a good thing. Just try to tell that to the jethro bodines out there who are still dumping their used oil on the ground out behind the barn, or are oiling their driveways one drain pan at a time....

 

[ndemge]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

ZmOz ...really?<br /><br />...Guy here in town heat's his shop with the oil too, he seems very happy with the way it works, burn all that oil at super high temps and basically get no emmissions.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

Originally posted by ndemge:<br /> ZmOz ...really?<br />

Yep...power company pays $0.05/KWH, I'll let you do the math. Basically I'm selling used oil to the power company at about $2/gallon. I'm thinking about getting a furnace for my house that will burn used oil too...

 

[jimr]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

I work for a city and we accept used oil/antifreeze for recycling from the public. we were paying safety clean about $1.00 per gallon to pick it up but another company came in and is picking up for free they use it in roofing materials. All the oil we get from doing services on our equipment is put in a seperate tank that we us in a waste oil heater for the shop.it works good and saves the tax payers from paying for so much natural gas. I think they make waste oil boilers that you could use in your house but there are draw backs to them. You have to be set up to haul and store the oil (alot of places will give it to you to save $$$ disposing of it, they need to have a an air line from a compressor to them, they are on the loud side they burn about a gallon of oil an hour.they are a pain in the but to clean

 

[gsbodine]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

I knew you guys would have lots of interesting input. I know I can google stuff like this, and thanks for the link, ndemge, but I always love to hear what you guys are *actually doing*.

 

[cajun555]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

My brother saves his old oil. When he goes camping he pours 1/4 gal on his firewood, lets it soak into wood for a few minutes, then pours a little white gas on it, throws in match, instant camp fire. It only flares up for a minute or so then the oil slowly burns off leaving a nice camp fire.

 

[rwise]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

back when I had a wood stove for heat I would pour old oil on the logs (keep it off the ground of course) and burn them, makes more heat! Now I take it back to the place I buy oilf from and they recycle it (I hope)

 

[BillP]

Re: Oil Recycling Question

A company I used to work for sold their used high purity manufacturing oil to a company that markets gun oil.