ILMA Compoundings - May 2021 - 26

some asphalt suppliers were introducing shredded roofing shingles into the
asphalt, and that was the issue. "
Re-refining requires more advanced
processing. " This usually includes
distillation and hydrotreating, " Parker
said, " and it's capable of generating a
base oil that many ILMA members
could use as a base lubricant, for
whatever blending they need to do for
their customers. Advanced processing
also can be used to produce a vacuum
gas oil or marine diesel oil, depending
upon the specific processing involved. "
Often, these re-refined oils meet or
exceed technical specifications for a
virgin oil.
Because of their recyclability, used
oils help customers achieve higher
levels of ecological sustainability.
" People come to us because they want
to improve their green story, " Bruce
said. " As more companies are wanting
to develop their environmental, social
and governance story and talk about
their sustainability efforts, we definitely are seeing more inquiries. "

QUESTIONS AND
PRECONCEPTIONS

Along with customer inquiries come
questions, concerns and, often, preconceived ideas about used oils.
Matt Munz, Heritage-Crystal
Clean's vice president of base oil sales,
said, " Depending on the application,
discussions are usually related to the
quality of the oil - for example, what
is our flash, what is our cold crank
- or about approvals with additive
companies. "
Customers historically have objected
to re-refined base oils and lubricants
because of concerns - sometimes
warranted - related to inferior
quality and unreliable supply relative
to virgin base oil sources. " Until
recently, no major oil company would
blend re-refined base oils into its
lubricants, " Moncrieff noted. " BP was
the first to change that position, when

26

MAY 2021

| COMPOUNDINGS | ILMA.ORG

" The attitude toward re-refined lubricants and
base oils in a notoriously conservative industry
is changing slowly. But it is changing. "
Ian Moncrieff, vice president, Kline Group
Castrol launched its GTX Eco brand
on a limited scale in India in 2016.
Valvoline tried it earlier, in 2011, with
its NextGen brand, which contained
50% recycled base oils, but this product has had mixed success. "
Once customers are convinced
of the quality, Munz said, talk then
turns to logistics and pricing for the
order. It's not unusual for customers
to assume that re-refined oils will be
cheaper than the virgin alternatives,
simply because they have been previously used. While that once might
have been true, recycled oils are now
competitive with virgin oils in price
due to improvements in re-refining
technology and the subsequent higher
quality of the recycled base oil.
" The attitude toward re-refined
lubricants and base oils in a notoriously conservative industry is changing
slowly, " Moncrieff said. " But it is
changing. "

THE COLLECTION CONCERN

While the recycling and re-refining
segment is continuing to grow in
quality and acceptance, the efficient
and comprehensive collection of used
oil continues to be a concern.
" As an industry, our primary focus
is to aggregate all of this used oil,
which is being generated in tens of
thousands of locations across the
country, " Parker said. " We work
with the DOE - and we always are
working with our members - to
make sure the public is aware that you
can't dump this stuff down the drain
or throw it in the trash. "
As a result of these efforts, he said,
" We have more recycled content
available from advanced processing

than we've ever had before. But there's
always room for improvement. "
Achieving that improvement
remains one of the main challenges for
the used oil sector. " Used oil collection
is a fragmented business, " Moncrieff
said, " with hundreds of small and
medium-sized collectors in the U.S.
alone. It's a business of scale and
logistics management. Large, multistate collectors and aggregators can
bring efficiencies to used oil collection
and aggregation that 'mom and pops'
cannot. The leading companies have
recognized that successful re-refining
requires an integrated used oil supply
chain. Nonintegrated re-refiners suffer
from lack of control over their raw
material pricing and quality. "
Moncrieff believes that market
leaders in the U.S. have been at
the forefront of managing used oil
recycling programs to collect, re-refine,
blend to lubes and recycle replacement
lubricants to the point of origin. Yet
there is still more to be done.
" Used oil collection needs to recognize that the only leverage point in the
used oil value chain is at the interface
between the generator and the collector, " he said. " Understanding netback
pricing forces is a key distinguishing
characteristic of efficient collectors,
most particularly when crude oil prices
are low and the value of used oil to
generators becomes negative. More
used oil can be supplied to re-refineries
over time because market dynamics
are encouraging it, such as improved
rail logistics for bulk movement, better
segregation of used oil sources and
improved quality of lubricants and,
thus, used oil. "
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