Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1250226
44 | May - June 2020 | www . machinerylubrication.com BACK PAGE BASICS chemical impurities can come from the reac- tion of the lubricant with the above-mentioned contaminants. Waste oil is any oil that has been mixed with a known hazardous substance. is oil might come from a machine where a lubricant and a chemical that is a known hazardous substance, such as cyanide, have a potential for mixing. A brand-new drum of oil could also be considered hazardous waste before ever being put into a machine if it is exposed to another hazardous substance. For this reason, it is extremely important to keep lubricants – both used and new – away from hazardous substances. e Resource and Recovery Act (RCR A), which is an EPA document that describes how to handle and control hazardous waste, classifies hazardous waste in the following ways: • Characteristic – Waste exhibits hazardous characteristics such as corrosivity, reac- tivity, ignitability or toxicity. • Acutely hazardous – Waste is fatal to humans at low doses, lethal in animal studies at particular doses or otherwise capable of causing or significantly contrib- uting to an increase in serious illness. • Listed as hazardous – Waste is capable of posing a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environ- ment when improperly managed. Waste oil also includes new oils that have halogen concentrations that exceed 1,000 parts per million (ppm). Halogens include the following elements fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine and tennessine. One of the main ways halogens are found in lubricants is through the use of additives. If lubricants that use additives contain the aforementioned elements and exceed 1,000 ppm, they would fall into the waste oil category. One exception to this would be metalworking fluids that contain chlorinated paraffins, which might be excluded from the 1,000-ppm rule if they are going to be reclaimed. Now that we have a clear understanding between used oil and waste oil, let's discuss how to handle these lubricants and what happens after they leave your garage or indus- trial site. One of the first things you will want to do is find out your local area and state regulations on how to handle these lubricants. In Tulsa, Oklahoma (Noria's headquar- ters), residents can take up to five gallons to most major auto parts stores, as well as the city recycling center, free of charge. When handling used oils in an industrial setting, lubricants are generally brought to a storage container or containers that should be labeled used oil. It is very important to label these containers properly as it could cost up to 10 times more to dispose of waste oil as opposed to used oil as there are different regulations for the way they are handled. Tank materials, spill containment specifications and any necessary records of the contents of the tank should be noted in local and state regulations. A few general rules to follow are to have a contain- ment that meets or exceeds 10 percent of the total stored volume, and to have an alarm set that will alert users the container is more than 90 percent full. Another key point is to keep any hatches or openings in these containers shut at all times to avoid catching rainwater; generally companies charge per gallon to dispose of used oil and if the tank has any water in it, you are getting charged for it. If it is waste oil, it should be prop- erly labeled as well and kept away from used oil to avoid contamination and making it waste oil. Some used oil haulers will bring separate containers out for specific oils, which makes it easy for them to reclaim and use again. So what happens with these lubricants after they are removed from your site? Certain used oils go through a reclamation process where they are filtered of any contam- inants they may have and used again in the machines they were removed from. Although this process doesn't take lubricants back to their original condition it does, however, clean them up enough to be used either one or multiple more times. is is a huge cost benefit for the site as they don't have to pay disposal fees or the price of new oil every time they change the lubricant. While most sites pay to have used oils removed from their storage, there are certain companies now that don't charge you to haul off your used oil; they will actually pay you for it. When companies do this, they are generally doing one of two things; either refining it to be used as a base oil or using it as heating oil. When utilized as a base stock, these used lubricants are run through a stringent refining process to be cleared of any impurities and oxidation compounds they may have, while heating oils are stripped of any moisture they might have before being used. ere is much confusion among industry today about whether to label consumed as oil used oil or waste oil. Used oil is any oil that has been refined from crude or synthetic oil and has been contaminated as a result of its use. Waste oil is any oil that has been contam- inated with known hazards by use or from its original ingredients. ere are multiple options for how lubricants are managed when they are drained from a machine. ey can be decontaminated and used in the same machine, reclaimed and used for base stocks or stripped of moisture and used for heating. Federal, state and local regulations have set standards on how to handle the lubricants and, if not followed, legal and financial rami- fications may be incurred. ML About the Author Travis Richardson is an associate tech- nical consultant for Noria Corporation. He holds a Level II Machine Lubrication Technician (MLT) certification and a Level II Machine Lubricant Analyst (MLA) certi- fication through the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML). Contact Travis at trichardson@noria.com.