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Bahrain plant recycles 5,000T of lube oil

Manama, May 7, 2011

A high-tech lube oil recycling plant launched five months ago in Bahrain has already prevented around 5,000 tonnes of waste oil from being dumped in the kingdom.

The $9 million facility in Sitra, which formally opened in January, converts the oil to create fresh lubricants and pitch for use in surfacing and re-surfacing roads.

It would otherwise be dumped on land or in sea causing severe environmental damage.

"We are targeting waste oil from Bahrain and elsewhere in the world which we are importing to recycle," said company vice-president, technical, K A Padmanaban.

"The response in the last four months has been very encouraging and we are all set to expand our capacity to 3,000 tonnes per month soon.

"By adding one more unit, we will be able to recycle what we manage to get from Bahrain and what we import."

The AGAS Lubes plant was officially inaugurated by His Majesty King Hamad's personal representative and Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife president Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

Padmanaban said all lube oil used in cars and other vehicles, as well as the oil used in garages and workshops was generally either thrown away or sold to people who re-sold it in some form.

He said if the oil was thrown away, it would pose a serious threat to the environment and could be damaging to Bahrain's natural resources long-term.

"Since these used oils are insoluble and slow to degrade, they are the single largest source of water pollution worldwide," he said.

Earlier, AGAS Lubes director Eric D'souza said the amount of oil in one car oil change could ruin an entire day's water supply in a place like Bahrain and, if not properly managed, could pollute land and water resources and pose severe hazards to health and the environment.

Equipped

He said it could also cause an eight km slick into the sea.

The plant has integrated facilities for used oil collection, transportation, storage, quality checks, processing and export of base oils and other by-products worldwide.

The facility is also equipped to recycle used lubricants with near zero waste with its use of sophisticated green technology capabilities, including 'wiped thin film evaporator' under high vacuum.

Advanced technology enables recycling of used lube oil into high-value products, such as various grades of reclaimed base oils, fuel oil and bituminous oil, without compromising quality and minimal environmental impact.

D'souza said such recycling would not only prevent contamination of the environment and conserve a valuable resource, but also provide cost efficiency by reducing waste disposal costs and ensuring the sustainability of high-performance by reducing long-term liability for disposed products.

The director said residents were now being urged to join the campaign to reuse, reduce and recycle. – TradeArabia News Service




Tags: Bahrain | Recycle | lube oil |

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