NexPlan Recycling & Renewable Energy
Oil Recycling | Oil & the Environment | Oil Refining & Oil Products

Petroleum or crude oil is an oily, flammable liquid that occurs naturally in deposits, most often found beneath the surface of the earth. Over millions of years, plant and animal remains fell to the floor of shallow seas. As the seas retreated, the plant material became covered by sediment layers, such as silt, sand, clay, and other plant material. Buried deep beneath layers of rock, the organic material partially decomposed, under an absence of oxygen, into petroleum that eventually seeped into the spaces between rock layers. As the earth's tectonic plates moved, the rock was bent or warped into folds or it "breaks" along fault lines, allowing petroleum to be formed. The oil industry began over five thousand years ago. In the Middle East, oil exuding up through the ground was used in sealing boats and baskets, in paints, lighting and even for certain medications. As recent as in the nineteenth century oil was used to light millions of homes in the form of kerosene.









Today, oil plays a big part in our society. Over the past hundred years, particularly with the automobile becoming a popular part of our world, oil has become a resource that we can't do without. For the most part transportation is powered by oil. We can use alternative energy sources like natural gas, hydrogen, solar power and wind power, but oil is not going to disappear overnight and what we do with used oil as far as recycling and properly disposing of it is very important, especially until we come up with new energy sources.
Oil Refining & Oil Products

There are different types and grades of oil used for different purposes. Nearly everything in our lives is made from oil, made by machinery and systems dependent on oil, and transported by oil as either gas or diesel fuel. Oil is used to heat homes and buildings. Oil can be refined into sources of fuel such as gasoline. An oil refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas. Even plastics, synthetic fibers and tires are made from petroleum products. One barrel of crude oil, when refined, produces about twenty gallons of finished motor gasoline, and seven gallons of diesel, as well as other petroleum products.  Most of the petroleum products are used to produce energy. Other products made from petroleum include ink, crayons, dishwashing liquids, deodorant, eyeglasses, records, tires, ammonia, and heart valves and even bubble gum. Plastic products, many of the materials used to make the clothes you wear, carpets that you walk on, plus hundreds of the other products we take for granted, are made from petroleum based products.

Common uses of oil that are used in cars and other vehicles include gasoline, gasoline/oxygenate blends, diesel fuel, motor oil, kerosene, brake fluid, automatic transmission fluid and gear oil. Gasoline is one of the most common and best-known petroleum products. The majority of our cars as well as other vehicles are still powered by gasoline or diesel fuel.  On average, over a third of petroleum becomes gasoline. There really are no waste products from petroleum. The lighter chemicals are natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, jet fuel, and kerosene. The heavier products are used for the manufacture of lubricants, plastics, and asphalt. In addition, many less valuable products can be chemically converted into other compounds such as plastics.

Oil & the Environment

While oil and petroleum products are crucial to powering our economy and society, oil from the time of drilling to after it has been consumed leaves a negative environmental footprint. Oil and gas production is a dirty process, since many of the steps involved can be sources of dangerous pollution that can have severe impacts on air, water, and land  and on human and animal health. Many people who live near oil and gas operations experience the kinds health issues known to be linked to the toxic substances found in oil and gas or the chemical additives used to produce these products.

Oil sands projects affect land when the bitumen is mined, and the water during the separation process and the air due to the release of carbon dioxide emissions. Additional indirect effects are common to any fossil fuel production, where the end products are primarily burned and their combustion byproducts are discharged into the atmosphere. There are also major environmental and economic hazards for off-shore oil and gas drilling. Offshore drilling is a threat to economic livelihood in coastal regions and toxic to our coastal environment. Environmentally sensitive and safe offshore drilling methods do not exist. While drilling technologies have improved, accidents can and still do happen. In addition to the dangers of oil drilling, offshore natural gas drilling has significant environmental consequences for our coast and marine life with chronic water pollution and air pollution and onshore industrialization. In addition to the threat of a major accident or spill, there are routine discharges of spent drilling mud that contain heavy metals and other toxins which accumulate in marine organisms, and produced water pumped from below the seafloor containing elevated levels of radium, which contaminate seafloor sediments and marine organisms. Also produced are substantial amounts of pollutants into the air from the massive machinery operating on each drilling rig, and the on-shore refineries and ports that will be built on our coastline. Our ocean, coastal marshes and waters, marine fisheries, and our tourism industry, are all affected from off-shore drilling.

Refining oil is a dirty procedure that contributes to pollution and global warming. Refineries that keep cars and trucks running also contribute to global warming. Fuel must be burned to make gasoline from oil, generating carbon-dioxide pollution. Oil refineries pollute our air, water, and land. Oil refineries are one of the largest sources of air pollution in the North America. Refineries are the single largest stationary source of various organic chemical compounds, the primary source of urban smog. Refineries are also one of the largest industrial source of toxic emissions and the single largest industrial source of benzene emissions. Our air is polluted by up to one hundred pollutants emitted from the stacks and leaking equipment at refineries.  Our land is polluted by the large amount of harmful waste from refineries, which needs to be dumped. Our water is polluted by the fallout from air pollution and by refineries discharging chemical pollutants into rivers and other bodies of water. Accidental oil spills also pollute the groundwater and open waterways. Chemicals emitted from oil refineries include metals like lead, and small dust particles called PM10, which get deep into our lungs and harm our ability to breathe. Finally, refineries emit many gases like sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NO2), carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, dioxins, hydrogen fluoride, chlorine, benzene and others.  Many of the gases emitted by refineries are harmful to humans, and can cause permanent damage and even death.  They can cause respiratory problems such as asthma, coughing, chest pain, choking, and bronchitis. Oil refinery emissions also can lead to skin irritations, nausea, eye problems, headaches, birth defects, leukemia, and cancers. Young children and the elderly are the most vulnerable. There are many ways for a refinery to reduce the amount of pollution it causes. However, this usually requires the refinery to install some equipment. Sometimes, refineries do not want to spend money on equipment to reduce pollution unless they are forced to do so. At times governments are lax on enforcing strict pollution and emission guidelines on oil refineries because oil companies equal power and money.

Getting oil from the well to the refinery and from there to the service station requires a complex transportation and storage system. Millions of barrels of oil are transported every day in tankers, pipelines and trucks. The transport of oil involves many risks in addition to drilling and refining oil. A lot of oil we need to refine requires the tanker and barge transport of these great volumes of oil. Ocean transportation of oil is very risky as is noticeable by the continuous spills of oil along our coastlines. Oil slicks pose extreme hazard to marine life. Tankers and pipelines are very vulnerable to acts of terrorism as well as having leaks and other mishaps. One of the most publicized oil spills happened in 1989 in the shallow waters of Prince William Sound near the Alaskan southern shore. The oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground and spilled over 40,000 tons of crude oil. As the oil spread along the coastline, it covered sea animals, birds, and plants. It turned hundreds of miles of this area known for its scenery and biological resources into an ecological disaster.

Oil storage poses another great risk. Oil tanks range in size from residential to large tanks at oil refineries. Oil storage tanks occasionally leak, and the risk of leakage increases as the oil tank ages.  If the oil storage tank is underground, a small oil leak may go undetected for a long period of time. When an oil leak occurs, it frequently contaminates the surrounding soil. As well, service stations store gasoline in tanks, where there has been leakage resulting in contaminated soil and water. On extreme occasions explosions have occurred at gas storage facilities.

The final process in the oil cycle is when it is burned as fuel. Gasoline is used in cars, diesel fuel is used in trucks, and heating oil is used to heat our homes. When petroleum products are burned as fuel, they give off carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is linked with global warming. The use of petroleum products also gives off pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and unburned hydrocarbons that contribute to air pollution. Since a lot of air pollution comes from cars and trucks, many environmental laws have been aimed at changing the content of gasoline and diesel fuel so that they produce fewer emissions. These reformulated fuels are cleaner burning than gasoline and diesel fuels were a few decades ago. Also, in the next few years, the amount of sulfur contained in gasoline and diesel fuel will be reduced substantially so that they can be used with new, less-polluting engine technologies.

As you can see, the cycle of oil, from the time it is drilled to the time it is burned in your home or vehicle leaves a huge environmental footprint and causes massive health and climate issues. Recycling oil and oil-based products should not be considered the answer to this important issue. We must first reduce our consumption of oil. This is done by cutting waste. We need to be energy smart. Next we need to start developing and using clean energy like hydro electricity for vehicles. Solar power, wind power and tidal power need to be used more. We cannot stop using oil overnight. We may always use oil to some extent. We must however cut down on our addiction to oil step by step. In the meantime we have to recycle oil and dispose of oil in an environmentally responsible way.


Recycling Motor Oil

There are hundreds of millions of vehicles on the road today with most of them powered by oil-based products. Many have motor oil for engine lubrication, which needs to be changed periodically. Oil is a hazardous waste. Where does this used oil go? What do we do with waste oil? Oil disposal and oil recycling are very important environmental issues.

Used oil can contain such contaminants as lead, magnesium, copper, zinc, chromium, arsenic and chlorinated compounds.  Motor oil poured onto the ground or into storm drains, or tossed into trash cans or sealed containers can contaminate and pollute the soil, groundwater, streams, and rivers. The oil from a single oil change has the potential to ruin a million gallons of drinking water - a year's supply for 50 people! Recycling your used motor oil diminishes this pollution threat.

Motor oil has value even after it has been drained from an engine. The oil you take to a collection center to be recycled saves energy. It can be reprocessed and used in furnaces for heat or in power plants to generate electricity for homes, schools, and businesses. It can also be sent to a refinery that specializes in processing used oil and re-refined into lubricating base oils that can be used to formulate engine oils. Many service stations, repair facilities and quick lubes will accept used oil and used oil filters. Additionally, your local government or recycling coordinator may be able to identify curbside or other recycling programs in your area.

There are many practical uses for used motor oil. One primary use is to rerefine it into a base stock for lubricating oil. This process is very similar to the refining of crude oil. The result is that the redefined oil is of as high a quality as a virgin oil product. In fact, rerefining used oil takes from fifty to eighty percent less energy than refining crude oil.

A secondary use of the used oil is to burn it for energy. Large industrial boilers can efficiently burn the used oil with less pollution. As a result some used oil is sent to power plants or cement kilns to be burned as fuel. On a smaller scale lower quantities of used oil are burned in specially designed heaters to produce space heating for small businesses.

Recycling Other Oil Products

It is important to dispose of any oil-based products like transmission fluid, brake fluid, gear oil and other petroleum products properly. These toxic substances should never be poured down drains, poured on the ground or poured into sources of water. They should be taken to hazardous waste collection facilities. Hazardous waste facilities are able to dispose of these substances properly as well as recycle them.
Transmission fluid, used to lubricate automobile transmissions, is mainly composed of mineral oil. Transmission fluid is flammable at high temperatures. Used transmission fluid contains environmentally toxic heavy metals, including lead. The heavy metals in used fluid can cause severe nervous system damage to wildlife and other animals if disposed of improperly. Brake fluid is a flammable product, which contains solvents in the form of glycols. Brake fluid is a poison and, if ingested, may cause central nervous system depression and kidney failure. Used brake fluid contains lead and other heavy metals in addition to solvents. These heavy metals can pose an environmental danger if disposed of improperly. Kerosene, coal oil, diesel fuel, home heating oil, and gasoline are all fuels and fuel oils should be disposed of as a hazardous waste.

Antifreeze coolant or ethylene glycol is a hazardous waste that is toxic to aquatic and land based animal life. Although it is not technically an oil product, the dangers of it being improperly disposed of are worth mentioning. Fortunately, it will eventually break down into water and carbon dioxide. However, used antifreeze contains more than just ethylene/propylene glycols and water. Contaminants found in used antifreeze, such as lead and benzene, can cause serious health and environmental problems. Antifreeze manufacturers also add a variety of chemicals to antifreeze to deter rust and corrosion. These chemicals can endanger the environment. Large quantities of glycol can suffocate aquatic life and disrupt sewage treatment processes. Both ethylene glycol and propylene glycol are toxic. Used antifreeze also picks up heavy metals like lead during use in the engine. These should not be released into the environment. Properly dispose of used antifreeze at an appropriate collection center. Waste antifreeze should never be disposed of down storm drains, streets or into surface waters because it causes serious water quality problems and may harm people, pets and wildlife.

Due to the many on-site and off-site recycling options available, recycling antifreeze is feasible in many areas. Waste antifreeze can be recycled by three methods. On-Site Recycling is where waste antifreeze is recycled in units purchased by the facility, located on site, and operated by facility employees. Mobile Recycling Service is where a van or truck equipped with a recycling unit visits the facility and recycles waste antifreeze on site. Off-Site Recycling is where waste antifreeze is transported to a specialized recycling company, and these services can also re supply the facility with recycled antifreeze. All waste antifreeze-recycling methods involve two steps removing contaminants either by filtration, distillation, reverse osmosis, or ion exchange and restoring critical antifreeze properties with additives. Additives typically contain chemicals that raise and stabilize, inhibit rust and corrosion, reduce water scaling, and slow the breakdown of ethylene glycol. Many factors determine the type of antifreeze recycling that is most adjustable to your facility.

Disadvantages of Oil Recycling

One of the main disadvantages of oil recycling is becoming too complacent with the fact that we need to reduce our consumption of oil in the first place and use alternative sources of energy such as hydrogen, solar power, wind power and tidal power. Recycling oil, while crucial, does not mean we can ignore the consequences of our heavy dependence on oil in the modern world.

Close to half of our oil products consist of products that do not generate waste oil, or are lost through combustion, on car parts, consumed in rubber manufacture and other products. Sometimes recycling oil is cumbersome and expensive. Recycling produces new waste with a high toxic materials content, For example, with the sulphuric acid method 4 tons of waste water, 10 tons of sludge, and 3.2 tons of deposits are produced for every 100 tons of waste oil refined. It is a high-tech solution which requires experienced personnel and the process uses considerable amounts of electricity, water and chemicals and supplies of these are either limited or they have to be imported.

Used engine oil contaminated with fuel or other non-oil engine fluids cannot be recycled and must be disposed of as waste. In general, to avoid secondary contamination resulting from re-use, waste oil from engines and transmissions should not be mixed with other types of waste oil. Oil soaked rags and other miscellaneous materials that are contaminated with oil during recycling or industrial operations must be disposed of as waste

Advantages of Oil Recycling

There are many benefits to recycling used oil besides keeping our water and land clean and safe. By recycling your used motor oil you keep it out of rivers, lakes, streams and even your ground water. In many cases that means keeping it out of your drinking water, off our beaches and away from wildlife. Used motor oil can be reprocessed into fuel that warms your home in the winter and cools it in the summer. It can be burned in furnaces for heat, or in power plants to generate electricity for homes, schools and businesses. Processed motor oil can also be used in industrial burners, mixed with asphalts for paving, or blended for marine fuels. Used motor oil can be re-refined into lubricating oils that meets the same certification and specifications as new or virgin motor oil thus conserving energy resources for the future. Rerefining is energy efficient since less energy is required to produce a gallon of rerefined oil than to produce a gallon of new virgin oil.

Most service stations, repair facilities, and quick lubes will accept used oil without charge. Check with your local government or recycling coordinator for procedures and collection services in your area. There are various companies and organizations that offer services such as oil purification, oil recycling, oil treatment, oil regeneration, oil filtration, oil restoration, oil filtering, waste oil disposal, oil reclaiming, waste oil management, oil reconditioning, oil restituting, oil recovering, and oil reclamation

Gasoline, though widely used in many applications today around the world, is destined to become a fuel of the past because petroleum is a non-renewable resource. Oil will become scarcer over time if we don't curb our use drastically. We need to develop alternative sources of energy now and start using them, as oil will eventually run out. Also we will reap environmental and green benefits on lessening our use of oil and oil products.











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