Issue 161-M

البحـث الأول

مجلة النفط والتعاون العربي

161

العدد

- 2017

أربعون

المجلد الثالث و ال

2016

أوابك العلمية لعام

�

ص لبحوث العلمية الفائزة بجائزة

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عدد خا

Re-refined Oil Facilities:

This section is much more difficult to fill in comparison to the production

capacity section. The information is so fragmented and statements by the re-

refiners, if any, are often half-truths and lacking details. Contacts with some re-

refiners yielded no answers by telephone or e mail. Papers presented in some

conferences were not made available publicly.

However, there are reports suggesting that re-refined used oil is gaining ground

in the Middle East though it still suffers from image and quality issues

. There

are operators who strictly do filtration to remove insolubles and export the

products to less demanding markets. Uncontrolled burning is also reported which

may produce hazardous emissions in the hot Middle East climate

. The author

was privately told that in an Arab country, used oil is the preferred fuel for

bakeries and is a cause for the higher rate of cancer in that country. In such

uncontrolled burning the contaminant metals simply settle on the bread.

As said earlier there is a lack of accurate information. Some sources

report the

existence of five plants in Saudi Arabia having a total capacity of 100 thousand

tons a year. This is much lower than other reported capacities. The same source

reported UAE re-refining capacity at 200 to 250 thousand tons a year

, which is

much higher than the domestically generated used oil.

Table (23) is a construct of what the industry is to the best available information.

The total re-refining capacity is probably over 400 thousand tons a year. Again

this number should be used carefully because it is not really well documented and

some old capacities may not be operative. But In any case there is a potential for

new re-refining capacity as the collectable used oil could be close to 900 thousand

tons a year (just over half of the estimated consumption).

As the quality of virgin base oils in the Arab producing countries move forward

to higher groups of II and III, the new re-refining projects must be top quality as

well. It is not advisable to produce low grade base oil when the market is moving

away from it. Producing lower grade base oils may still have export opportunities

but for how long? Even some importers in Africa and Asia are moving in the

direction of using better lubricants as they change their transportation stocks and

industrial plants. The gap in the price of Groups I and