Recycling of waste lubricants by using low-tonnage technology

Abstract

In recent years human activities have influenced a significant increase in the amount of waste lubricants (WL). Annually the minimum number of waste lubricating materials in Russia amounts to 500 thousand tons, out of it only 14-15 % are reprocessed, the rest is illegally dumped into the soil or waterways. Environmentally hazardous components of waste lubricants are polychlorinated biphenyls, derived from the sulfur - and chlorine-containing additives, some biocides, organic metal compounds (lead, barium, antimony, zinc), nitrites. They are distributed in atmosphere, water, soils, appearing in food, are getting into the food chain of men and the result is a shift of the ecological balance. A way to solve the problem of recycling of waste lubricants is to develop low-tonnage technologies of recycling using multifunctional modular regenerative complex. Its development is based on use of transportable small-sized plants with a capacity from 50 to 300 1•h-1; mobile plants with a capacity from 250 to 1500 1•h-1; stationary small-sized plants with a capacity from 300 to 3000 1•h-1. The implementation of recycling of waste lubricants by using of the low-tonnage technology allows to reduce emissions of WL in the environment and hence improve its ecology indicators, formulate mechanisms of economic incentives aimed at encouraging the development of systems for collection and disposal of WL, introduce modern technologies for processing of WL for the rational use of energy resources.