A group of researchers from the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) is developing a sustainable technology for the regeneration of used lubricating oils, using carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial facilities.
The project Regeneration of used lubricant oil by supercritical CO2 – a process towards circular economy and environmental health (NeWLOife), one of the winners of the 4th edition of the Seed Awards for Interdisciplinary Scientific Research at the University of Coimbra, is being developed in partnership with Sogilub – Sociedade de Gestão Integrada de Óleos Lubrificantes Usados, Lda. and aims to reduce the high environmental impact of used lubricating oils and create a high quality product capable of being reintroduced into its useful life cycle.
«Used lubricating oils are highly polluting, but they can also be a resource, as they are derived from petroleum. In other words, if we have the possibility of effectively regenerating what already exists instead of using new oil, it is, naturally, an added value. If, additionally, we can use carbon dioxide from industries for the regeneration process, we can achieve a negative footprint», believes Cecília Santos, researcher at the Department of Chemistry at FCTUC and coordinator of the project.
Thus, «the idea is to clean used oils through the use of supercritical carbon dioxide and reintroduce them into the life cycle. The use of CO2 as a solvent not only has the potential to be a cleaner and more economical technology, without secondary products, but it can also help capture carbon dioxide from industrial facilities», guarantees the researcher.
The results obtained are very promising and show that this technology can bring several advantages at various levels, but in particular for the environment, when compared to existing ones. At the moment, some studies are still underway regarding the chemical composition of the regenerated oil, but the next step is to optimize the process.
According to Química, this technology has two particularities that differentiate it from the rest: «it can be self-sustaining, which will have an economic impact, by reusing CO2 and directing oil contaminants to other industries; and is less polluting, the processes that currently exist use solvents, generating waste that is even more contaminating than the used oil itself».
«We have clear advantages here and we are at the point in the project where we already have evidence that the process is viable and has a good performance. It is still necessary to optimize, improving the experimental conditions to obtain a greater quantity of oil with better quality», he concludes.
In the future, the objective is for this project to have a broader focus, particularly in relation to the application of oil contaminating residues and possible integration into the asphalt industry.
Tags: University Coimbra invests regeneration lubricating oils CO2 industrial facilities
