Process for recovering used lubricating oils using clay and centrifugation

Abstract

A process for recovering used lubricating oils, and oils recovered using the process. In a first embodiment (for used industrial oils), the used lubricating oil is mixed with clay in a reactor. The mixture is preferably heated to between 80 and 200 degrees Celsius. The temperature should not be too great, to avoid “cracking” the oil (i.e., breaking molecular chains in the oil). After a certain period of time, the mixture is pumped through filters. Cakes of clay and contaminants remain in the filters, while the oil emerges without the contaminants. A second embodiment (for removing ash or soot, very fine carbon particles and other organic compounds from used motor oils) is the same as the first embodiment, except that before the mixture is passed through the filters, a centrifuge is used to remove most of the clay contaminated with soot, so that it will not block the filters.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to the removal of contaminants from industrial used lubricating oils and used motor oils by treatment of the used oil with clay at high temperatures, but at lower temperatures than that of “cracking”, and later removing the contaminated clay by filtration and centrifugation.[0003]2. Description of the Prior Art[0004]The recycling of used lubricating oils coming from industrial processes, car motors, transmissions and other sources is an important process, because it avoids contamination by lubricating oils, and allows the recovery of lubricating base oils, which are a scarce product. The oils form a monomolecular layer on the surface of the water, which it means that a small quantity of oil can contaminate a great volume of water.[0005]The recovered lubricating oil bases have all the properties of the first refining, and they can be used to produce new oils. The recycling process can be don...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0032]It is a further object of the invention to reduce pollution to the environment from discarded used lubricating oils.

[0033]Still another object of the invention is to reduce the depletion of nonrenewable resources used in making lubricating oils.

[0034]It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof in an apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.

Problems solved by technology

An important observation in this process is that, if this is performed in a continuous way, with feeding of used oil and preheated clay through the bottom of the reactor and gathering of recovered oil from the upper side, then the oil still contains a large amount of contaminants, and is not suitable for future use.

In continuous systems in the prior art, they use catalysts or chemical reactives to obtain suitable results, which complicate and increase the cost of the process.

Images