Management of waste lubricant oil in Europe: A circular economy approach.

This work presents an updated overview of waste lubricant oil (WLO) management practices in Europe to promote a circular economy. The characteristics of virgin and waste oil, their hazardous properties and the impacts of improper disposal are addressed. Current treatment routes and regeneration technologies adopted in Europe are presented. An overview of life cycle assessment (LCA) of WLO management strategies are summarized. Finally, future developments and concerns about the regeneration process are discussed. The current objectives of European Union toward a circular economy represent a challenge for Member States which must maximize the collection and recycling rates. EU management indicators show an overwhelming trend for recycling. However, there is a competition between recycling by regeneration to produce base oil and reprocessing for energy recovery. EU legislation states that priority should be given to options that provide better overall environmental outcome. However, LCA studies, are not unanimous about regeneration being the soundest environmental option. Other factors such as lubricant market, energy consumption, distance to treatment facilities, operation costs and product quality should be accounted for. Selective segregation of WLO is extremely important to increase the regeneration rate and obtain high-quality base-stocks. However, this means a significant increase in the collection costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]