Ecological Disposal of Used Oil

Seed, The same up here in South Carolina USA.. All of the recycle and garbage disposable places have a large plastic drum to collect the oil from everyone and the utility commission has a vacuum truck come around every now and then.

Inter-Action wrote:

Just wondering where it goes when it hits the water table . Last time i checked ,it will probably remain on top?
Just a thought?

I know people used to put a little kerosene in their rainwater tanks to prevent mosquito larvae, it just sits on top and provides a barrier to the mozzies.

I was reading up on the difference between hydraulic oil and engine oils recently to see if I could use the latter in the loader hydraulics. I can apparently, but the hydraulic oils have water repellents to keep the water and oil separate, so the water just sits at the bottom and can be drained off. Engine oils have emulsifiers to allow the water to mix with the oil, hence the white sludge when your head gasket goes. I forget why, maybe to avoid the possibility of straight water being pumped through your white metal bearings. Plus in a hot engine with positive crankcase ventilation the water evaporates from the oil fairly quickly.

Most of the used oil collected on the east coast is re-refined into new base oil and sold to the oil blenders to make new lubricants. Most of them use it, but a couple won't. There is a re-refinery at Rutherford (Cleanaway), Wagga (Southern Oil Refiners) and Yarwun (Northern Oil). The product is so good now that it meets Group II spec and is water white in color. When you buy any oil, 14.2cpl is collected by the government as a levy, and the re-refiners get 50cpl for every litre they produce to encourage them to refine as much as posssible.

I dunno much about oils

I do know Chamberlain tractors specify the engine oil for hydraulics right to the last 80 series, dunno about the 90 series

The PTO oil in a C670 or C6100 was thin like metho or turps type thin

It was a proper blend for Chamberlain
It was so the multi plate clutch could slip when disengaged

I also know if the hydraulic pump is cactus putting heavy gear oil like 140 or 180 or whatever it is doesnt work anygood as it must be to thick to suck past the gauze to the pump, learn these things late at night when baling hay

Paul

Way back when, when I was doing my apprenticeship., we were told that oil does not lose it's properties, it just gained impurities. One difference I have learned over the years between hydraulic and engine oil is that engine oil is a lot easier to get out of concrete after a spill than hydraulic oil. I've got some nasty stains in my shed i've had for years.

Waste oil is quickly broken down by bacteria and fungi in the soil.

I read somewhere the exact same for disposing of cooking oil. Pour it into a hole in the ground and the bacteria will gobble it up. I guess the soil must be seeded with the bacteria to start with.

US Department of Agriculture

There are species of marine bacteria in several families, including Marinobacter, Oceanospiralles, Pseudomonas, and Alkanivorax, that can eat compounds from petroleum as part of their diet. In fact, there are at least seven species of bacteria that can survive solely on oil.

Apparently this is why huge oil spills from rig blow-outs and sinkng tankers are not covering the ocean. If the little munchers get a bit of time they can make it all go away. Problem solved so long as it does not wash up on the beach before they have finished lunch.

I wonder what these bacteria live on when we aren't spilling oil ?

Paul

No 2 son did a marine engineering course at Southampton UK.
Old lecturer related when he was a kid during the war, every day they’d play on the beaches which were waist deep in black frothy foam from the destroyed shipping.
Look at them now, not a trace.

During the disasterous Exxon Valdez tanker spill in Alaska things were made much worse during the cleanup. Firstly the dispersant used was highly toxic to man and beast and did as much damage to workers, fish and birds as the oil. Most importantly they decided to use hot water and steam in vast quantities to clean the oil from the rocky coast line. This had the effect of killing all our little bacteria mates leaving the oil for decades to come. It took 20 odd years for everything to go back to normal but there are still thousands of tons of oil under the rocks on the beaches.