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7 authors, including:
Henrik Grnman
Rainer Sjholm
bo Akademi University
bo Akademi University
SEE PROFILE
SEE PROFILE
Markku Reunanen
Dmitry Murzin
bo Akademi University
bo Akademi University
SEE PROFILE
SEE PROFILE
Article
pubs.acs.org/EF
Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry and Reaction Engineering, Process Chemistry Centre, Laboratory of Organic Chemistry,
Laboratory of Wood and Paper Chemistry, Process Chemistry Centre, bo Akademi University, FI-20500 Turku/bo, Finland
ABSTRACT: In this paper, estimation of the chemical composition of used oils collected from several European locations was
performed on the basis of a comparative analysis of chemical composition of commercially available fresh and used motor oils.
Although the motor oil undergoes a range of chemical and physical transformations during routine engine operations,
information about the structure of hydrocarbons in the fresh oil allows for an estimation of the approximate ratio of dierent
types of hydrocarbons in the same oil after its use. As an example, a particular type of fresh oil was used in the engine and then
reanalyzed by the same analytical techniques. Gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GCMS), Fourier transform infrared
(FTIR) spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and elemental analysis (CHNS/O analysis) were used
to characterize the chemical composition of the oil samples. A comparison of the obtained results showed correlations between
chemical properties of the fresh oil and the collected used oil. Both oil FTIR spectra exhibited the bands that are related to the
presence of carbonyl groups and amine-containing compounds, respectively. Opposite from the fresh oil, phenols were not found
in the used oil. According to the obtained 1H NMR spectra, the paranic hydrocarbons of the fresh oil are more linear and have
longer chains than those in the used oil.
1. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, globally dierent automotive sources generate large
amounts of used oils. To achieve maximum energy
conservation and environmental benets, it is generally
preferable to re-rene used oils into regenerated base oils.
The regeneration industry is an important part of European
independent lubricant production, which represents one-third
of the European market for lubricant volume (1.52 million
tons of lubricants). On the basis of data published by the
European Re-rening Industry Section of UEIL, Groupement
Europeen de lIndustrie de la Regeneration (GEIR),1 today, the
European waste oil recycling industry comprises 28 plants. A
total of 17 of these plants produce base oils. The industry has a
total nameplate capacity of 1.3 million tons/year and a total
lube oil production of 400 000 tons/year and produces 500 000
tons/year of other products including fuels, asphalt, gas oil, ux
oil, etc. An approximate total turnover is between 200 million
and 250 million/year.1
Composition of new motor oils and new oil additives is
changing because of continuous engine modication. The
variability of lubricating uids has increased in recent years to
meet the demands of new engines having more stringent
requirements because of their operation under more severe
conditions or in challenging environments. Signicant growth
in markets of synthetic and semi-synthetic oils has been
observed. Novel oil compositions are certainly known to oil
manufacturers, while this information is unavailable to rereneries processing used oil. For optimal and qualitative oil,
re-rening data on the used oil chemical structure is therefore
needed. The dependence of the chemical composition of crude
motor oils upon the oil rening processes was described.2 It has
been demonstrated that various process parameters and
severities of operation for lubricant rening can be optimized
in terms of structural data to obtain base oils with improved
2012 American Chemical Society
Article
fresh oil
spent oil
used oil
10.99
61.76
172
0.854
9.87
57.52
158
0.860
8.49
50.07
146
0.871
in Figure 1. In the text below, the term used oil corresponds to oil
delivered to a particular re-renery from multiple European used oil
collection centers, fresh oil corresponds to a commercially available
motor oil, and spent oil denotes the same commercially available
motor oil after being used in the engine, specied above.
The fresh oil has higher viscosity and distillation temperatures. This
trend is not surprising, because higher viscosity oil generally has
heavier, less volatile components. The atter shape of the curve for the
fresh oil indicates that the oil contains compounds with similar boiling
points. Figure 1 displays the distillation curves of the spent and used
lube oils. The rst drops of the spent and used oils began to distill at
signicantly lower temperatures than that of the fresh oil. This
28
Article
Figure 2. GCMS spectrum of fresh motor oil, spent motor oil, and used oil: 1, napthalene; 2, butyl-diphenylamine; 3, octyl-diphenylamine; 4,
butyl-octyl-diphenylamine; 5, 4,4- methylenebis(2,6-di-tert-butylphenol); 6, p,p-dioctyldiphenylamine; 7, (E)-N,N-di-tert-butyl-2,2,7,7tetramethyloctane-1,8-diimine; 8, N-[1-(1-naphthyl)ethyl]-2-naphthamide; 9, 3-hexenoic acid,5-hydroxy-2-methylmethyl ester; and 10, [1,1bicyclohexyl]-1,1-diol.
Article
Figure 3. FTIR spectra of oils: I, used oil; II, spent oil; and III, fresh oil. Fresh oil spectra: (1) OH vibrations in alcohols and phenols. Used oil
spectra: (3) SiH vibrations and (6) NO vibrations in nitrosamines. Fresh/used oil spectra: (2) CH vibrations in hydrocarbons, (4) CO
vibrations, (5) aromatic rings, (6) carbonates, (7 and 9) sulfonates, (9) methacrylates, (8) CN and NH vibrations in amines, (10) POC
vibrations in ZDDPs, and (11) PS vibrations in ZDDPs.
additive for lube oil and typically exhibits the bands at 1701 and
1154 cm1.12,13 The intensity of polymethacrylate peaks in the
spectrum of the fresh oil is signicantly higher than in the
spectra of the used and spent motor oils. On the basis of the
study by Al-Ghouti et al.,8 which demonstrated that the band at
1701 cm1 is an informative wavenumber for viscosity index
(VI) estimation of lube oils, the fresh oil had a higher viscosity
index than the other oils.
Several metal-containing compounds are added to oils to
improve lubricant characteristics. Some of the characteristic
infrared absorption bands of single additives were recognized
in the spectra of the fresh and used oils. Zinc dialkyl
dithiophosphates (ZDDPs) are organometallic compounds,
which are one of the most eective antioxidants and, therefore,
included as a key component in many oxidation inhibitor
packages for engine oils.3 Bands associated with the POC
bonds of ZDDPs are located at 1050920 cm1.10 The
characteristic frequency of the PS bond is around 1040950
cm1.20 Sulfonate, phenate, and carboxylate are the common
polar groups present in detergent additives of motor oil. The
spectra of the analyzed oils showed the peaks at around 1376
and 1154 cm1, which are associated with the presence of
sulfonate salts in the oils. Carbonates of overbased sulfonates
absorb at 14901410 cm1.21
Amines are also present in the lube oils as multifunctional
additives; moreover, their presence was demonstrated by GC
MS analysis. Dierent types of amine-containing compounds
have been found to provide appreciable antioxidative proper-
Article
proton
CH3C
CCH2C
RCH2NRN<
RCH2COO
R2CHCOOH
CCH2OR
CCH2OH
CCHOR
CCHOH
CCH2OCOR
H2O
CCHOCOR
R2CHOCOR
olenic protons
aromatic protons
phenols
fresh oil
(ppm)
spent oil
(ppm)
used oil
(ppm)
0.90.8
1.341.25
0.90.8
1.331.2
0.90.8
1.331.2
2.3
2.3
2.3
3.6
3.8
3.9
4.0
4.8
5.0
5.655.5
6.957.05
7.77
4.0
5.55
6.87.1
2.6
3.4
3.6
3.7
3.9
4.0
4.8
5.15.3
6.757.2
used and spent oils. Moreover, the used oil spectra exhibited a
broad peak at 2.6 ppm, corresponding to the presence of
organic acids, which are commonly formed in lube oils via
chemical oxidation processes.
31
Article
compared to that in the fresh oil, but the carbon content was
very similar in both samples. These results may be associated
with the higher concentration of olenic and aromatic
hydrocarbons in the used oil than in the fresh oil, what was
also identied by NMR analysis.
The obtained data showed that the content of nitrogen and
oxygen in the lube oil after its use is higher than in the fresh oil.
The dierences were 0.73 and 0.25 mol % for nitrogen and
oxygen contents, respectively. Lube oil oxidation occurs,
causing the breakdown of a lubricant because of aging and
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Article
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research was funded by the National Technology Agency
of Finland (Tekes), which is gratefully acknowledged. Ida
Ronnlund is gratefully acknowledged for the provided equipment to carry out elemental analysis.
REFERENCES
4. CONCLUSION
The chemical composition of used oil, collected from several
European locations, was compared to the chemical composition
of the commercially available fresh motor oil. The fresh and
used motor oils were investigated via GCMS, FTIR
spectroscopy, and NMR techniques and elemental analysis
with an organic elemental analyzer. Combined analysis of the
obtained results demonstrated that these techniques could be
applied for the determination of the chemical nature of the lube
oil and could be a helpful tool for distinguishing between
compositions of oil samples of various degrees of use.
The obtained data showed that the hydrocarbon structure of
the motor oil is changed insignicantly during its operation and
the major part of the changes is accounted for with depleted oil
additives. The modern fresh oil has the following chemical
composition: 99.7% aliphatic hydrocarbons, 0.27% aromatic
hydrocarbons, and 0.03% olenic hydrocarbons. During its
application, oxidation processes occur, resulting in a slight
increase of aromatic hydrocarbons and sulfur contents in used
oil, although these changes can be probably related to the
presence of used industrial oil with a higher amount of the
latter compounds in the analyzed used oil. The estimation of
the hydrocarbon structure of the used oil showed the presence
of 98.9% aliphatic hydrocarbons, 0.94% aromatic hydrocarbons,
and 0.08% olenic hydrocarbons.
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Article
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