Glykeria Archontaki

Groupement Européen de l’Industrie de la Régénération

European Re-refining Industry Section of UEIL

GEIR

Green Planet Association Annual Conference

Bucharest, 28.05.2015

Waste Lube Oil Management in Europe

• About GEIR

• Circular model for re-refining industry

• Reasons for a circular approach

• EU legislative framework for used oils

• Used oil management in EU

• Good practices and barriers

• Conclusions

Agenda

2

About GEIR

3

GEIR

GEIR is the European Waste Oil Re-refining Industry Association. It is an independent member

of UEIL (Union of the European Lubricants Industry) and the strongest representative body for

independent manufacturers of lubricants in Europe.

Goals

Promoting the collection and re-refining of used oils

Support re-refining over other possible routes of waste oil management (improper

disposal, on-site combustion and treatment to fuel oil)

Support further development of the used oil recycling in Europe

Location: Brussels

The GEIR maintains permanent contacts with European official bodies (Parliament,

Commission, Committees) and works with all public and private organizations that are

interested in the subject of recycling in general and of used oils in particular.

Members: 14 members, active in 9 EU Member States, representing 90% of the European re-

refining capacity.

Used Oil Capacities for Base Oil Production

GEIR Website

Country Company Location Used Oil Capacity

[1000 tons/a]

Denmark Avista Oil Denmark Kalundborg 40

Finland L & T Recoil Hamina 42

France Eco Huile Lillebonne 125

Osilube Le Havre 120

Germany

Puralube 1+2 Tröglitz/Zeitz 160

Avista Oil Germany Dollbergen 120

KS-Recycling Sonsbeck 30

Greece Cyclon Hellas Attika 40

Italy

Viscolube Pieve Fissiraga 130

Viscolube Ceccano 84

R.A.M.OIL Casalnuovo 35

Netherlands North Refinery Farmsum 80

Poland Rafineria Nafty Jedlicze Jedlicze 34

Spain

Cator Taragona 42

Tracemar Fuenlabrada 36

Tracemar - Alfaro Alfaro 38

Tracemar- Huelva Huelva 34

Tracemar- Murcia Murcia 34

United Kingdom Whelan Refining Stoke-on-Trent 50 ca. 1.3 million t/a

4

European Re-refinery Landscape

Viscolube

Viscolube

Eco Huile

Tracemar

R.A.M. Oil

Cator

Tracemar

S.I.R.O

Tracemar

Tracemar

L&T Recoil

Whelan

Refining

Osilub

North

Refinery

Siral

Cyclon

Südöl

Puralube 1+2 KS Recycling

Avista DK

Jedlicze Jaslo

Re-refining plant (base oil) including hydrogenation or solvent extraction

Re-refining plant (base oil)

Avista D

New Projects

5

Lubrica

Enviroil

EGEO

Circular Economy Model

• WLO represent the largest amount of liquid, non-aqueous

hazardous waste in the world

• Re-refining is a resource efficient and technically completely

feasible way to manage WLO

• WLO can be recycled a limitless number of times without any

quality loss of base oils

• 70% base oil plus other useful by-products (fuels, asphalt, gas

oil, etc) can be recovered

• Production of high quality base oils free of harmful substances

• Modern re-refining technologies are waste free technologies

• Circular economy model provides advantages in terms of

limiting waste and harmful emmissions, reducing dependance

on natural resources, reducing costs, creating jobs and

economic growth

6

Virgin Base Oil

Circular Economy Model

Contributing to a Competitive Europe

7

Contribution to EU Economy: About 30 per cent of all base oils consumed in the EU is made from regenerated waste oils which can be regenerated indefinitely.

Security of Supply: Re-refining contributes to the reduction of crude oil imports from third countries, making the EU industry and society less vulnerable to high prices, market volatility and the political

situation in supplying countries

Market Balance: A significant part of base oils is still produced by crude oil refining, mostly imported by major global players. Moreover, operating costs involved in a re-refinery are less than that in a crude oil refinery. SMEs play a vital role in balancing the lubricant market

Business Opportunities: The European waste oil recycling industry is

comprised of 28 plants and secures 1000-1200 local jobs in re-refining

and 2000-2500 mostly local jobs in the collection of waste oil. Moreover,

the re-refining industry contributes to the creation of indirect jobs in a

diversity of sectors, from accounting, quality control to cleaning and repair

work

Protecting Europe’s Environment

8

Security of Natural Resources : Increased re-refining rates alleviate the environmental burden of

primary lubricants production

Energy Savings : Recycled base oils save up to 30-40% of energy in the entire operation, in

comparison to the primary production of lubricants

Greenhouse Emissions Reduction : Considerable amount of CO2 is avoided compared to virgin

lubricants production.

Protection of Human Health and the Environment : High collection

rates reduce the potentially severe risks for human health and the

environment arising from illegal dumping in water or soil or uncontrolled

incineration.

High Quality Base Oils : Properly re-refined lubricants fulfill high

standards on low sulfur, aromatic and phosphorous concentration

resulting in high quality products

Legal Framework

Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC

Article 4: Waste hierarchy as priority order

• Recycling (incl. re-refining) has higher priority than other recovery options (incl. direct burning or

production of secondary fuels)

Best solution

Worst solution

Disposal

Recovery

Recycling

Preparing for re-use

Product (Non-Waste)

Waste

Prevention

incl. Burning of used oil

incl. Re-refining

9

Waste Framework Directive, Rules for Used Oil Management

Article 3 (Definitions) :

‘recycling’ means any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products,

materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of

organic material but does not include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to

be used as fuels or for backfilling operations

Article 21 on waste oils:

Used oils have to be collected separately

Used oils have to be treated in accordance with the waste hierarchy

Prohibition of mixing used oils with different characteristics or with other kinds of waste or

substance if this impedes their treatment

Member states may apply measures (technical, organizational, economic) to promote separate

collection and proper treatment

Member states may restrict the transboundary shipment of used oils from their territory to

incineration or co-incineration in order to give priority to regeneration

10

Source GEIR, 2008

Used Oil Volume and Utilization in EU27

11

Million tons %

Total Lubricant Demand 5.7

Collectable Used Oil 2.7 100%

Collected Used Oil 2.0 75%

Re-refined Used Oil 0.7 25%

(35% of collected)

Used Oil Utilization EU-27 (m tons)

35%

45%

10%

10%

Used Oil Management in EU27 (in t/a)

12

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

550

WLO Collected (m tons) Re-Refining to Base Oils (m tons) Direct burning (substituting HFO) Direct burning (substituting solid fuels)

Good Practices and barriers in WLO Management

13

Full implementation by Member States of WFD

Priority to re-refining over other ways of WLO management

Legally binding collection and re-refining targets for WLO

Implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility Schemes

Public awareness

Not harmonized national laws with the provisions of WFD

Financial support for incineration (tax cuts)

Lack of controls and enforcement actions by competent authorities

Objectives for sustainable development

14

Effective implementation of the provisions of existing EU regulatory framework for used oils by all Member States

Definition of clear collection and recycling targets for WLO

Best use of available re-refining capacity in the EU by encouraging WLO transboundary shipments for Member States that lack re-refining facilities to other EU Member States

Financial instruments to re-refining industries in order to support steps to “zero waste” type of economy

Educating consumers and leveraging public procurement based on life cycle costing

15

Thank you for your attention!