Midwest Environmental Services knows that the definition of used oil, according the EPA, is any oil that has been refined from crude or any synthetic oil that has been used and as a result of such use is contaminated by physical or chemical impurities. This definition is based on three criteria which must be met.
Origin: The oil must have been refined from crude oil or made from synthetic materials.
Use: Oils used as lubricants, hydraulic fluids, buoyants, and similar purposes.
Contaminants: Oils that have become contaminated by introducing physical or chemical agents.
Midwest Environmental Services understands that once oil has become used, it can be collected, recycled, and used over and over again. Midwest Environmental Services reports that an estimated 380 million gallons of used oil is recycled each year. Used oils can be recycled by reconditioning on site for prolonged use, being inserted into a petroleum refinery for gasoline production, burning for energy recovery by removing the water and particulates, and re-refining by removing all impurities to make the oil the same product it was when it started out.
The following are different types of businesses that handle used oil.
Generators: Businesses that handle used oil through commercial or industrial operations or from the maintenance of vehicles or equipment. Generators are the largest segment of the used oil industry.
Collection centers: Facilities that accept small amounts of used oil until enough is collected to ship for recycling.
Transporters: Companies that pick up used oil and deliver it to various facilities.
Re-refiners and processors: Facilities that blend or remove impurities from used oil so that it can be burned for energy recovery or reused. The EPA’s management standards primarily focus on this group of used oil handlers.
Burners: Plants that burn used oil for energy recovery in boilers, industrial furnaces, or in hazardous waste incinerators.
Marketers: Handlers that direct shipments of used oil to be burned as fuel in regulated devices, or claim that certain EPA specifications are met to be burned in devices that are not regulated.
Midwest Environmental Services currently operates two Oil Processing Facilities that recycle numerous types of used oil. The recycled oil meets all Used Oil Management Regulations. Please feel free to contact Midwest Environmental Services at 513-681-9990 for any questions you have about your used oil needs.