Approximately 2.5 billion gallons per year of base oils are sold in the United States and approximately 55% or 1.35 billion gallons of used oil are recovered and collected. The un-recovered portion of the used oil is either consumed, burned at the site of utilization, lost or disposed of improperly.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 240 million gallons of Used Oil are improperly disposed of each year in the U.S. (equivalent to 24 Exxon Valdez spills) by being dumped on the ground or deposited in the trash (ending up in landfills). In addition to wasting a valuable resource, this oil has a profound impact on the environment. Just one gallon of used oil, the amount from a single automobile engine, has the potential to contaminate one million gallons of fresh water, causing long-lasting effects. Used oil is insoluble in water, persistent, slow to degrade and contains toxic chemicals and heavy metals that pose a health threat to humans, plants and animals. A single gallon of used oil can create an 8-acre oil slick, poisoning fish and reducing the oxygen produced by aquatic plants.

Of the 1.35 billion gallons of used oil recovered, only a small amount (approximately 150 million gallons) is currently being re-refined back into usable base oil. Most of the recovered used oil is combined with No. 6 fuel oil and burned as an industrial fuel. Burning used oil contributes a significant amount of pollution to the environment, including heavy metals, soot, carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, volatile hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide. In most developed countries, regulatory bodies have identified used oil burning as a major source of pollution and desire more re-refining of it into useable base oils.

Used Oil Burning

When used oil is burned, metal organics, sulfur dioxin, nitrogen dioxin, sulfur and nitrogen oxides, acid halides and particulates are release into the atmosphere. Metals such as barium, cadmium, chromium, aluminum, nickel, copper, zinc, and lead are released in substantial quantities. These pollutants are harmful to humans, animals and the environment and can result in serious health and environmental damage. Typical fuel oils produced from crude oil do not have many of these contaminants. The contaminants that they do have are typically found at much lower levels. Heavy metal emissions from burning used oil have been found to be several orders of magnitude higher than virgin fuel combustion. The overall negative environmental impact of burning used oil versus re-refining has been found to be far greater, as re-refining reduces the negative effects of plant, animal, aquatic, and human toxicity potentials.

Health Hazards of Used Oil

Used oil contains metals and heavy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which can be carcinogenic. Aromatics are considered to be the most acutely toxic component of petroleum products. Chronic effects of Naphthalene (a constituent of used oil) include changes in the liver and harmful effects on the kidneys, heart, lungs and nervous system. The PAHs in used oil are also considered to be both mutagenic and teratogenic. The combustion of used oil can also lead to the formation of toxic organochloride compounds, particularly polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans due to the presence of chlorine in the used oil. Currently, there are hundreds of burners across the country that utilize used oil as a fuel to power their combustion equipment. Typically, the operators of this type of equipment are at risk of exposure through direct contact with used oil and used oil by-product maintenance waste streams.

Oil Conservation

With growing population and the continued industrialization in Asia, the demand for energy will continue to increase. Worldwide petroleum consumption of crude oil is projected to increase in the year 2020 to 119.6 million barrels per day, a 60 percent increase from the 74.9 million barrels per day in 1999. In light of the non-renewable nature of crude oil, countries worldwide are looking for ways to decrease energy and crude oil consumption. Re-refining used oil represents one way that our natural resources can be more efficiently utilized, since it takes significantly less energy and oil to produce base oil from used oil than it does to produce it from crude oil.