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البحـث الأول
مجلة النفط والتعاون العربي
161
العدد
- 2017
أربعون
المجلد الثالث و ال
2016
أوابك العلمية لعام
�
ص لبحوث العلمية الفائزة بجائزة
�
عدد خا
17
7
Introduction
The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) is indeed
fortunate in selecting the theme of this year’s research titled “Re
-Refining of
Used Lubricating Oils and its Economic & Environmental Implications”.
Used lubricating oils affect the environment adversely for the pollutants that they
accumulate as a result of deterioration throughout the service life under the
conditions of heat and friction.
At the same time, used oils are still a hydrocarbon resource that should be
conserved as much as practicable to lessen the needs for crude oil and its products.
While the collection of used oil and its utilization for fuel or in re-refining
industry in the Arab countries is small and limited to few countries, increasing
interest is seen forthcoming and will pick up momentum once the governments
make it a policy to support the industry by laws and regulations and financial
compensation.
The breakdown of the requested research as outlined in (OAPEC) announcement
has been covered here with the variation that was found necessary to cover the
intended purpose especially with respect to burning used oil for energy recovery
and the relationship with virgin lubes supply and demand. It was found that the
used oils question is not isolated and must be viewed in relation to the overall
industry of lubricants and to fuel users as well.
Chapter 1 deals with the history of lubrication and re-refining to see how the re-
refining industry evolved from the consumption of virgin base oils and to take
note of the similarity in processing steps of both.
In chapter 2 the environmental impact and resource conservation of used oils
disposition is discussed with respect to dumping, burning for energy recovery or
processing for base oil production.
Chapter 3 deals with virgin and used oil processing where virgin production steps
are discussed briefly as an entrance to the main processing of used oils. Various
processes are discussed in details to demonstrate their relevance to the modern
requirements of lubricants. Processes to treat used oil for fuel purposes are also
discussed.