SynLube™
Lube-4-Life®
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Used Oil
SUMMARYMany motorists believe that Used Motor Oil gets recycled into "fresh" Motor Oil. Government agencies promote Used Oil collection Laws in many States limit or prohibit Used Oil disposal Yet Lube Oil producers do NOT want "recycled" Basestock, because customers are unwilling to pay a premium price for Motor Oil made from "Used Oil". Majority of collected Used Oil gets burned or disposed of "legally". Most "do-it-yourself" oil changers dispose of oil improperly or illegally. In the USA over 400,000 Gallons of "Used Oil" get dumped into the environment daily. The prooven FACT is that you do not have to change Motor Oil for up to 15 years or 150,000 miles if you use: SynLube™ Lube-4-Life® The FIRST Oil you do NOT change ! It is also the FIRST and only Oil that can be 100% re-processed and used again and again!Want to learn the TRUTH ? .... read on !
What is Used Oil ? (Definition)According to Federal Government agency - the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) as well as most State agencies, Used Oil is defined as follows: Any oil that has been refined from crude oil and has been used is "Used Oil." The term "Used Oil" also applies to any oil that is no longer useful to the original purchaser as a consequence of extended storage, spillage or contamination with non-hazardous impurities such as dirt and water. In California, used oil is a "Hazardous Waste".
Why
is Used Oil:
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| Automotive | 70% |
| Industrial | 15% |
| Mixed (Other) | 15% |
Used Oil destiny:
| Improper Disposal | 40% |
| Collected for Re-cycling | 55% |
| Mixed (Other) | 5% |
Used motor oil is usually not recognized as a recyclable material and generally is not viewed as a significant problem. But let's look at the facts:
 | Alabama: There are 4.4 million vehicles registered in Alabama. If each vehicle contains 5 quarts of oil and is changed three times a year, what happens to all that used oil? About 60% is recycled; the remaining 40% is improperly disposed of through dumping onto the ground or being poured into our rivers and lakes. |
| California: Unfortunately, not enough recycling is occurring. In 1990, 290 million gallons (mgal) of oil were sold in California, of which 165 mgal became potentially available for collection. Only 113 mgal were collected, and of this amount only 77.5 mgal were recycled, just 47 percent of the used oil that was available. |
The illustration below shows typical sequence that Used Oil undergoes during it's Recycling process:
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Although the definition of what used oil is not uniform in all states of USA, nor it is treated the same Internationally, some States, notably Alabama and California, consider used Motor Oil a serious problem.
Since its implementation on January 1, 1987, California's Management of Used Oil Act (SB 86) has prohibited the disposal of used oil by discharge to sewers, drainage systems, surface or groundwaters, water courses or marine waters, by domestic incineration or burning as a fuel, or by deposit on land, unless otherwise authorized by law.
| Theory |
The well intentioned and well sounding "theory" that is propagated by environmentalists, State agencies and many other entities is a fact illustrated below:
So in theory using similar "slightly" deceptive presentation it appears that recycling oil from two typical automotive oil changes would "save" 84 gallons of crude oil.
| Reality |
Unfortunately in a "real life" scenario, also availability as well as economy has to be considered. If something is more difficult to do, it is not done. If something is much more expensive to do, it is not done profitably
The reality is that:
NOT ALL collected oil is Recycled
MOST of "recycled oil" is NOT made in
to
automotive motor oil.
Motor Oil made from "recycled" Basestock costs MORE and takes MORE energy, time and effort to make, than making Motor Oil from virgin Crude Oil
Consumers perceive Motor Oil made from "recycled"
Basestock as "USED" and therefore "NOT AS GOOD" and also they
think it should cost LESS and not MORE
"Collected" Used Oil destiny:
| Proper Legal Disposal* | 33% |
| Recycled into other products | 18% |
| Burned as Fuel | 46% |
| Recycled into Motor Oil | 1% |
| Lost in Processing | 2% |
* In California for example millions of gallons of collected used oil are sprayed annually onto shoulder of Interstate Highways (I-5, I-10, I-15) within California by State operated "CAL-TRANS", it is used as a "weed killer". This is because there is NO demand for the collected used oil, and because of California environmental laws, the processes needed to make the collected used oil useful have also been outlawed.
The same application on State and or Local Highways by Local entities, however is Illegal in California.
The only other alternative is to export the collected used oil out of California, and pay someone to take it! So far there are NO takers!
| REASON |
To understand why the in theory good intentions of environmentally friendly consumers do not materialize in "real life" we have to go back to understanding what is produced from Crude Oil and in what proportions and quantities. The diagram below should help to illustrate this point:
The fact is that only 2.5 quarts of lube oil Basestock are produced from 42 gallons of crude oil (One barrel), is because there is very little demand for lube oil by comparison to Gasoline or Diesel Fuel.
Unfortunately, not ALL of the crude oil can be converted into either Gasoline or Diesel
100% of Crude Oil, cannot be cost effectively converted into 100% of any of the desirable "fractions" and therefore there will always be some percentage of the barrel that can be utilized ONLY for lube Basestock.
Some undesirable fractions are left; they range from Petroleum Gas to Tar and Asphalt.
Some of this undesirable stuff is heavy oil, from which ONLY lubricants can be economically made.
If supply matched the demand for this lube oil Basestock, life would be just lovely!
Unfortunately, there is presently far more low-grade lube oil stock
available than the world needs. In the USA the "surplus" is estimated at about twice of what is really needed by consumers and industry. More and more of lube stock is available daily!As modern vehicles use LESS oil each year, and are driven more so they burn MORE fuel, but use LESS motor oil in the process.
The lube oil stock essentially becomes a worthless commodity, which becomes a nuisance to get rid off.
In the old days, if there was too much of an undesirable petroleum by-product left from the refinery stream, the oil was burned, or pumped back into abandoned oil wells. Either practice has however since about 1985 been illegal in the USA. To export unneeded motor oil Basestock to other countries for dumping is way too expensive, except if you are very close to MEXICO.
The really BIG Oil Company like EXXON-MOBIL does not even consider motor oil Basestock to have any value.
Their FINISHED Petroleum Motor Oil is sold almost for the cost of the packaging or the cost of transportation.
They can and do beat every other motor oil in the market place that is of the SAME quality level in price, every time!
That is reason why companies like "Pennzoil - Quaker State" spend over $47 million annually on advertising to promote "3,000-mile Oil Change" and hope that consumers will buy their more expensive oil because they perceive it as "better".
Since production of Motor Oil from "recycled" Basestock is time consuming, expensive and not appreciated by consumers, so far every business venture has collapsed or had to depend on heavy government financial subsidy.
U.S. Post Office which operates more vehicles in the USA than any other entity, has been ordered by a Presidential Order to use Motor Oil made from Recycled Basestock for "at least" 20% of their vehicle needs.
Because the "recycled" motor oil is so much more expensive, the "operating" costs for the U.S. Post Office fleet have doubled.
We all pay for this by paying a penny more for each piece of mail we send.
Till the cost of a Barrel of Crude Oil exceeds $80 or more, recycling of Used Motor Oil into more Motor Oil is not cost effective, and there are doubts that even at $120.00 per Barrel, or more it will never be a break-even proposition.
This is because so much energy is required to complete the process, and at least in the USA, most of the energy that is used to generate other forms of energy such as electric power is derived from "burning" of fuels derived from Crude Oil.
Substitution of Used Oil for a fuel for power generation is theoretically possible. In practice, however, because of the "heavy metal" and sulfur components in Used Oil, unless it is processed and cleaned first, serious Air Pollution problem results when burned "AS-IS".
In most States and Localities there are already extensive motor oil recycling programs in place. And more State and Local agencies are trying to provide more opportunities for recycling used oil.
As a result, many service stations now accept used motor oil from the public for a nominal charge, provided the oil has no water or materials added to it. A number of California cities have regular curbside pickup of used oil; several others have dropoff facilities. A number of communities holding household hazardous waste collection events have publicized the local waste oil recycling programs.
Hazardous waste haulers have provided communities without used oil recycling programs with waste oil tanks for oil collection at collection events
Recycling is TIME consuming and it does require an EFFORT on your part.
In many localities you are also charged MONEY when someone accepts your Used Oil from you.
In short you "should" collect and make available for collection ALL Used Oil that your vehicles generate.
That is the ONLY way to keep our EARTH clean!
In many places it is also a LEGAL requirement that you dispose of Used Oil properly.
But the fact is that majority of private individuals and "do-it-yourself" Motor Oil changers dispose of Used Motor Oil and of other automotive fluids, either improperly or illegally.
That is why over 40% of Used Motor Oil never gets collected, it just disappears into the environment, and someone always has do assist in that disappearing act as it does not happed by itself.
You can participate in oil recycling by following these tips:
| Drain the used oil into a clean container with a tight fitting cap. A one gallon plastic
milk jug works well. Empty water container is preferable. |
| Do not mix the recovered oil with any other liquid, and make sure the oil is free from
dirt, leaves and other debris. |
| Take the oil to a Used Oil collection site. |
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Now that you REALLY know what happens to every gallon of Used Motor Oil that you on the average generate with EACH and EVERY oil change, you can readily appreciate:
SynLube™ Lube-4-Life™
The FIRST Oil you do NOT change!
But even more important, is that most SynLube™ products can be "re-processed" with minimal waste into their "original fresh" state and used over and over again.
The best news is that SynLube™ re-processing costs are about 1/10th of the cost of manufacture of "new" SynLube™ products and therefore the operation is not only ecologically sound but also economically advantageous!
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