Diesel-Like Fuels and Lubricating Grease Preparation from an Industrial Oily Waste.

The disposal of industrial waste must meet the environmental legislations while being economically feasible. This paper presents an alternative processes for the transformation of an oily waste produced in aluminum can factories into diesel-like fuels and lubricating greases. To obtain the diesel-like fuels, successive reactions were performed: thermal cracking, esterification and hydrotreating (hydrogenation and hydrodeoxygenation). The fuels were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometer, showing to be composed by a great mixture of hydrocarbons. The physical-chemical properties of the hydrocarbon mixtures were also characterized and matched the Brazilian specification for diesel fuel. Besides, the fuels also exhibit biocidal activity, inhibiting the growth of filamentous fungi (Aspergillus niger and Fusarium solani) and bacteria (Acinetobacter sp. and Bacillus subtilis), which are microorganisms commonly found in fuel tanks. Lubricating greases where produced mixing the residues with refined soybean oil lithium soap. The greases were resistant to high temperatures and could be classified as NLGI grade 0-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]