How to Handle Used & Waste Oil Responsibly

September 22, 2021

Today, a lot of time and money is spent on delivering good, clean oil to industrial sites all over the world. A lubricant may be tested for cleanliness, run through a filtration system, and stored in a climate-controlled lube room before being staged for later use at proactive, best-practice facilities.

When required, these lubricants are introduced into a machine where they lubricate components until they reach the end of their useful life, but what happens after that? While evaluating lubrication programmes in various industries, it is clear that the amount of detail put into the first half of a lubricant's life is significant.

However, when most people are asked how lubricants are handled after they have been drained from a machine, it often becomes noticeably quiet. The general notion is to place these oils in used or waste oil containers and have them removed from the site. However, there are federal and state regulations, as well as cost-benefit factors, that can be influenced by how these lubricants are handled.

Before we get into how these lubricants should be handled, it's important to understand the distinction between used oil and waste oil.

The differences between used oil and waste oil

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines used oil as any oil that has been refined from crude oil or any synthetic oil that has been used and has become contaminated by physical or chemical impurities as a result of such use. To further dissect this definition, consider its origin, as well as the machines from which it may have originated, and the contamination that causes it to be classified as used oil.

To be classified as used oil, it must have originated as crude oil (refined oil from the ground) or synthetic oil (man-made oil from petroleum materials). Drained lubricants derived from vegetable or animal oil are not considered as used oil.

Vehicle engines, industrial gearboxes and pumps, compressors, and even hydraulic units are examples of typical machines from which used oil may be derived. The physical contamination that causes these lubricants to fall into the used oil category may include metal shavings or debris from the machines in which they are used, whereas the chemical impurities may result from the lubricant's reaction with the aforementioned contaminants.

Any oil that has been mixed with a known hazardous substance is considered waste oil. This oil could have come from a machine from which a lubricant and a known hazardous substance, such as cyanide, could have mixed.

If a brand-new drum of oil is exposed to another hazardous substance, it may be considered hazardous waste before it is ever put into a machine. As a result, it is critical to keep lubricants – both used and new--away from potentially hazardous substances.

New oils with halogen concentrations greater than 1,000 parts per million are also considered waste oil (ppm). Fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine, and tennessine are examples of halogens. One of the most common sources of halogens in lubricants is the use of additives.

Lubricants that use additives that contain the aforementioned elements in concentrations greater than 1,000 ppm are classified as waste oil. Metalworking fluids containing chlorinated paraffins, for example, may be exempt from the 1,000-ppm rule if they are going to be reclaimed.

Handling of used oil in an industrial setting

Lubricants are generally brought to a storage container or containers labelled used oil when handled in an industrial setting. It is critical to properly label these containers because it can cost up to ten times more to dispose of waste oil than used oil due to different regulations for how they are handled.

Local and state regulations should include tank materials, spill containment specifications, and any necessary records of tank contents. A few general rules to follow are to have a containment that is equal to or greater than 10% of the total stored volume, and to have an alarm set to alert users when the container is more than 90% full.

Another crucial point is to keep any hatches or openings in these containers closed at all times to avoid catching rainwater; generally, companies charge per gallon to dispose of used oil, and if the tank contains any water, you will be charged for it. If it's waste oil, it should also be properly labelled and kept separate from used oil to avoid contamination and turning it into waste oil.

So, what happens to these lubricants after they've been removed from your property? Certain used oils go through a reclamation process in which they are filtered of any contaminants and reused in the machines from which they were extracted. Although this process does not restore lubricants to their original state, it does clean them sufficiently to allow them to be reused one or more times.

This saves the site a lot of money because they don't have to pay disposal fees or the cost of new oil every time they change the lubricant. While most sites pay to have used oils removed from their storage, there are now companies that will not charge you to haul off your used oil; instead, they will pay you. When companies do this, they are usually refining it to be used as a base oil or using it as heating oil.

When used as a base stock, these used lubricants are subjected to a rigorous refining process to remove any impurities and oxidation compounds, while heating oils are stripped of any moisture

Penalties for improper oil waste disposal in Singapore

There are serious penalties under the Environmental Public Health Act, as stated in the table below. Learn more about the act here.

Taken from Appendix 5 of the Code of Practice for Licensed General Waste Collectors: Offences and Fines

Conclusion

From this article, we know that any oil that has been refined from crude or synthetic oil and has become contaminated as a result of its use is referred to as used oil. Waste oil is defined as any oil that has been contaminated with known hazards through use or by its original ingredients.

When lubricants are drained from a machine, there are several options for how they are managed. They can be decontaminated and reused in the same machine, reclaimed and repurposed as base stocks, or stripped of moisture and used for heating.

Our country has established guidelines for how to handle lubricants, and if these guidelines are not followed, legal and financial consequences may result. For more information on oil waste collection and disposal, get in touch with us here.