Waste oil

Source « Recycling and waste treatment in Picardy »Edition 2003 Ademe CR Picardy

• Motor oils

• Industrial oils

In this last category we can distinguish between black oils (quenching oils, rolling oil, wire drawing oils…) and light oils (for turbines, hydraulic circuits…).

Not included in this category are “soluble” oils used for metalwork and vegetable oils (frying oils…).

Oils containing PCBs are described in the chapter on PCB, PCT.

Figures

National production in 1999 was estimated at 370,000 tonnes of which 220,000 tonnes represented

black oils and 95,000 tonnes of light oils.The percentage collected is in the region of 80% of production or 296,000 tonnes of oil collected.

Regulation  

Treatment

Things NOT to do :

• Do not mix different categories of used oils

• not mix oils with other liquid waste (solvents, antifreeze, frying oils…)

• All oil storage facilities, as for liquid waste hazardous to the environment, must have a capacity for storage equal to the largest of the following values: either 50% of total volumes stored, or 100% of the largest volume stored. 

Recycling of waste matter

• The re-processing of black oils consists of refining them again and 2 litres of oils can be re-processed from three litres of used oil. In 1999, almost 82,000 tonnes of used oil were re-processed in this way which represents 1/3 of the tonnage of used oils

• Light oils are recycled after a simple physical treatment (decantation, filtration or centrifugation), the light oils can be re-used for industrial applications such as de-greasing, stripping or for extracting parts from moulds.   

Energy recycling

The used oil has a calorific output equivalent to 90% of that of fuel oil so is a good combustible fuel. However, its use must be restricted to installations equipped to capture all the pollutants emitted during its combustion (cement production plants for example…).

In 1999, almost 126,000 tonnes of oils were recycled.

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