METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVAL OF SOOT FROM LUBRICATING OIL

A method for removing soot from an engine oil, the method comprising: disposing an oil containing soot particles between a pair of electrodes; applying a DC or AC current to the pair of electrodes for a period of time to generate an electric field, wherein the electric field causes a portion of the soot particles to agglomerate on a positive electrode of the pair of electrodes and other portions of the soot particles not collected on the positive electrode are also agglomerated by the electric field resulting in a larger average particle size; and applying a filtering process to remove the soot particles not collected on the positive electrode. Also disclosed herein is a filter for removing soot particles from an engine oil having soot particles disposed therein, the filter comprising: a housing having an inlet and an outlet defining a flow path through a chamber defined by the housing; a pair of electrodes disposed in the flow path, the electrodes being disposed in the flow path, the pair of electrodes being electrically coupled to a DC or AC current, wherein an electric filed is generated by the pair of electrodes and one of the pair of electrodes is a positive electrode, wherein the electric field causes a portion of the soot particles to agglomerate on the positive electrode.