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البحـث الأول
مجلة النفط والتعاون العربي
161
العدد
- 2017
أربعون
المجلد الثالث و ال
2016
أوابك العلمية لعام
�
ص لبحوث العلمية الفائزة بجائزة
�
عدد خا
73
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Chapter 5 - The Economics of Re-refining
For a long time, the prevailing view is that re-refining of used oils is uneconomic
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due to the multitude of factors that work against the industry such as the relatively
high investment required as compared to burning applications, the costly
collection system that has to be financed by the industry, consumers or the
government, the lower prices in the market for re-refined base oils as compared
to virgin base oil prices and the cost of getting rid of environmentally stressful
waste in some processes.
The research studies are divided on the economic viability of re-refining but a
general rule cannot be made and the re-refining projects remain country and site
specific that takes all the parameters into consideration. However, this does not
rule out the possibility of economic attractiveness in certain situations if the
choice of a suitable process, plant location and plant size are made correctly.
But first, let us see the factors that influence decision making on a re-refining
project.
The Impact of the Price of Oil:
The price of crude oil and its products has and will always be a factor in
consumption of petroleum products and lubricants are not excluded. Only the
degree of impact may differ from one product to another but the general principle
and direction is the same for all.
Crude oil prices directly affect base oil prices which are the largest cost
component of finished lubricants. Therefore, when oil prices are high, consumers
tend to use less fuel, and therefore less lubricant, due to conservation and the need
to balance the disposal of income among different requirements. At the same time
high oil prices may slow down the economy and therefore fuels and lubricants
used in transportation and industry are reduced accordingly.
This revelation is very well demonstrated in the OECD countries where reliable
statistics are available. Fig (19) shows the evolution of lubricants consumption
against the benchmark Brent crude oil prices as developed from the International
Energy Agency (IEA) statistics
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for lubricants.
When crude oil prices were low between 1984 and 2002, lubricants consumption
in the OECD region was generally rising though with some variations up and