Oil recycling plant on the cards
Investment group tries to seal the deal for environmentally-friendly oil industry in Richards Bay.
A PROPOSED development of a used waste oil recycling and lubricants manufacturing plant in Alton could shrink Richards Bay’s carbon footprint as the region’s industrial hub.
Oasis Group Holdings, which specialises in investment management and fund administration, is currently involved in producing lubricants and blending fuel such as gear oils, hydraulic oil, diesel oil and motor oil.
Now the Durban-based company hopes to form a strong partnership with Hitech Chemicals, chaired by a qualified chemical engineer, to establish an oil reprocessing site next to Tata Steel.
The 20 000 m2 plot will make use of oil discarded by both industrial and non-industrial customers to be refined into other important products, thus minimising waste from ‘cradle to grave’.
In its bid document, Oasis explained oil recycling will benefit the region’s environment by increasing opportunities for consumers and companies to recycle their oil and lessen the likelihood of the commodity being dumped on open land, greenbelts and in waterways.
‘For example, four litres of motor oil dumped into waterways has the potential to pollute four million litres of water,’ said the report.
Any liquid or semi-solid used oil, which had been rendered unsuitable for further use after heat transfer, electrical insulation or other processes, will be collected from various service stations and industries.
Oasis said it had established sources in the Middle-East (UAE) and local sources of used oil.
‘The reclaimed product will be filtered by wire mesh before passing through the vacuum distillation column,’ said the company.
‘It will then be heated up to 350°C within the distillation column.
‘Finally, distilled oils are treated with 5% Alkaline Clay and filtered through the filter press.
‘Vacuum distillation removes the lube cut (that is, the fraction suitable for reuse as lubricating oil) leaving a heavy oil that contains the used oil’s additives and other by-products such as asphalt extender.’
Oasis estimates it could use 66 000 litres of used oil as feedstock per day, which comes to 2 046 tonnes of reclaimed product fed into the vacuum distillation plant per month.
