HyLubeTM Process

INTRODUCTION
Approximately 2.4 billion gallons of finished lubricants are sold annually in the United States. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 1.4 billion gallons of spent lube oils are generated annually, of which approximately 1 billion gallons are recovered in U.S. waste oil collection systems. More than 90% of the recovered spent lubes are routed into low-grade fuels. The remainder, approximately 100 million gallons, is re-refined by three companies, which together supply 60-70 million gallons of base oils into the lubricants market. Since the mid-1990s, more high-quality lube oil is available from the U.S. petroleum industry with the greater use of high severity hydroprocessing, an example of which is the product from a lube oil complex. The greater supply of this high-quality product has helped to encourage raising the quality requirements for finished lube oils. Today's automotive engine oil specifications are set to achieve significantly more stringent standards, such as GF-2 and GF-3, than what existed for finished lube oils prior to the mid-1990s. These tougher standards, established to facilitate auto manufacturers requirement to improve engine performance from an environmental impact perspective, have raised base oil product quality requirements and their associated production costs. As a result, since the late 1990s, the U.S. lube oil industry has undergone considerable consolidation and rationalization of its lube production assets to reach the new standards. These changes in the virgin oil industry continue to provide an opportunity for a process that can rejuvenate used oil to these higher product standards. Maximize the production of value-added products to increase operating profits Generate environmentally friendly effluents The HyLube process is a totally integrated catalytic hydroprocessing operation with a greater than 90% annual onstream efficiency. The process eliminates the operating conditions that induce fouling, coking, corrosion, and catalyst deactivation. The capital investment and operating costs of the HyLube process are highly competitive and are minimized by eliminating superfluous equipment, such as intermediate contaminated oil storage, clay treatment, and special chemical additive facilities.

HyLube Process
Buffered Caustic Reactor Flash Separator Cold HPS H2 Makeup Recycle Gas Compressor

Heater Surge Drum Hot HPS Residue Recovery Section

Filter Steam Waste Oil Feed

Residue Product Recovery Section

Fuel Gas Fuel Oil Light Lube Heavy Lube Water to Treating

PROCESS DESCRIPTION
In the HyLube process, a proprietary feed treatment system rejects the non-distillable portions of the used oil. The remaining oil, typically 90-95% of the original feed, is directly processed over a proprietary UOP catalyst. The results are: Lube base stocks equal to virgin lube oils Low sulfur (<0.03 wt-%) fuels Aqueous effluent with a low chemical oxygen demand and no organochlorides Stable heavy residue acceptable for asphalt blending

UOP APPROACH
UOP has approached the re-refining of used oil with three objectives in mind: Increase onstream efficiency equal to the levels found in the petroleum refining industry

FEEDSTOCK
Used oil is a non-homogeneous mixture of: Low- and high-viscosity lube base stocks Gasoline, diesel, and combustion products from piston blowby Degraded additive packages originally intended to: - Inhibit oxidation reactions - Reduce rust and wear - Disperse contaminants - Enhance synergy between wide viscosity range lube blends (multi-grades) - Increase viscosity index - Reduce pour point Sludge, grit, and metals

HyLube Process vs. Thermal Evaporative Re-Refining

Unit Operations Dehydration Fuels stripping Thin film evaporation Intermediate storage Clay treatment Hydrotreatment Catalyst cycle length Onstream efficiency

Conventional
yes yes yes yes maybe Lube fraction in batches 3-6 months 60-80%

HyLube
no no no no no All products continuously 1 year >90%

EXPERIENCE
Two commercial applications of Hylube process started up in 2003.

MATERIAL BALANCE
An example of an overall process material balance is provided.

Overall Material Balance Example

Feedstock Wt of Used Oil Waste oil* 100.0 Hydrogen 0.5 1.5 Na2CO3/NaOH MP steam 2.6 0.7 Chemical O2 (from air) Total 105.3 Product Fuel gas Non-lube range product Lube range product Residue Net aqueous effluent Total
* Includes 10% water

1.8 14.4 67.4 5.0 16.7 105.3

FOR MORE INFORMATION

HyLube technological services are available on request. For more information, contact your UOP representative or UOP at: Phone: +1-847-391-2000 Fax: +1-847-391-2253

uop
2003 UOP LLC All rights reserved. This information is not to be taken as a warranty or representation for which UOP assumes legal responsibility nor as permission or recommendation to practice any patented invention without a license. It is offered solely for your consideration. UOP 4223-25 1103PTE0Au

UOP LLC 25 East Algonquin Road Des Plaines, IL 60016-6101 U.S.A. www.uop.com