Used oil re-refining plants

SENER has developed an innovative process, patented throughout the world, for regenerating used lubricating oils, currently one of the most voluminous hazardous wastes. 

The process designed by SENER manages to recover base lubricants from used oils by extracting them with propane and then distilling them, without producing any type of solid waste. It attains regenerated base lubricants of quality equal to that of the first refining. 

This technology produces a group I base lubricant and, thanks to the addition to the process of hydrotreating in stages, produces group II as well, which is experiencing increasing market demand. 

For group I base lubricants, the process does not require final treatment with earth, acids, or hydrogen, thus reducing investment and production costs. 

For group II base lubricants, hydrotreating in stages is added to the conventional process. SENER has conceived an alternative to the usual consumption of hydrogen bottles: the on-site generation of hydrogen from methanol, which optimizes costs. 

SENER’s lubricant regeneration process standout features:

• Recovery of high quality bases;
• Provision of a solution that is economically viable even on a small scale (25,000 – 40,000 t/year), making it possible to considerably reduce logistics, supply, and transportation problems;
• Provision of an optimal solution to the environmental problem of managing this waste.

This technology has been working successfully since 2000 at the Ecolube plant in Madrid (Spain), with capacity to treat 30,000 t/year.