Quality upgraded!

Bango Refining, USA, was using regenerative clay process supplied by a Sequoia competitor for upgrading distillates recovered from used oil. The product had poor color, poor oxidation stability and there was no control over reduction of sulfur in the final products.

With the Sequoia-supplied hydrotreater, Bango Oil now makes a Group 2+ base oil product that is ‘water white’. Bango is now blending finished automotive lubricants that have passed the API engine tests. The regenerative clay process was abandoned and the equipment hauled off site.

Meeting regulations for continued existence

A UK-based waste oil collector was using emulsifiers and heat to drop water out of waste lube oils and fuels. The processed oil with 0.5-1.0% water was being filtered in a centrifuge. But the centrifuge had to remove residual water in addition to solids. This reduced the efficiency of the centrifuge and the recycled fuel oil product could not meet specifications for ash content.

The company installed Sequoia’s efficient water evaporation equipment which produces oil with less than 0.1% water. As a result, the centrifuge works more efficiently. Ultimately, the company makes a recycled fuel oil product that easily meets government specifications for ash, Zn and water content.

In search of better yield, better profits

A West Australian company is processing used lubricating oils by a distillation process. They use a wiped film evaporator supplied by a Sequoia competitor. The yield of distillates is about 50% with constant fouling problems in the forced-circulation evaporator. Sequoia is supplying a modular evaporation plant to improve the product yields to over 70% and increase the processing capacity by 50%.