Nanomaterial-assisted pyrolysis of used lubricating oil and fuel recovery

Abstract

ABSTRACT Used lubricating oil (ULO) is a heavy mixture of various hydrocarbons and needs to be treated before discharging. Considering ULO nature, it is more favorable to recover lighter hydrocarbon cuts from ULO, which not only improves the whole process economically, but also prevents the emission of hardly decomposable hydrocarbons into the environment. In this research, the potential of pyrolysis method for ULO recovery was studied. Furthermore, graphene nanoplatelets (GNP), γ- Fe2O3 and ZnO nanoparticles were used to improve the kinetics of the process and their impacts on the final product quality were evaluated. Based on the results, adding nanomaterials increased the tendency to produce gas product during pyrolysis. This tendency increased with enhancing the temperature. Among the three studied nanomaterials, γ- Fe2O3 incorporation was associated with the most satisfactory outcomes and resulted in liquid products with 81% and 83% of C-8 to C-15 at final temperatures of 400°C and 450°C, respectively. GNP and ZnO nanoparticles led to similar results and about 75% of their products were composed of C-8 to C-15 hydrocarbon cuts. Furthermore, according to the outcomes of GC, atmospheric distillation, density and flash point analyses, γ- Fe2O3 nanoparticles can produce hydrocarbon cuts that are lighter than diesel and close to kerosene.