Recycling of lubricating oil by using potassium hydroxide efficiently

Different processes for re-generation of base oil from used lubricant oil had been developed to over come two main issues, eliminate the pollution sources and the need of preserving crude oil reserves. Waste lubricating oils may be re-refined/re-generated by treatment with an organic solvent that dissolves base oil and flocculates the major part of additives and particulate matter. It is considered that the polar nature of the alcohol is the origin of the stabilization by electric repulsion of some of the particulate matter that provides an electrostatic media that encourage improving the solvent flocculating capability. An addition of KOH (Potassium Hydroxide) solution containing ions that neutralize those charge, break this stability. In this study, experiments were conducted on the use of KOH to enhance flocculation. The quantity of KOH addition was varied in order to know its effect on the sedimentation rate. The result from the study showed that, the introduction of KOH promotes fast sedimentation process and the particulate settling rate was directly proportional to the amount of KOH addition and the settling was finished within 40 minutes time.