Waste oils should be transported from the points where they are generated to recovery or disposal facilities in accordance with legal regulations, using specially equipped vehicles and trained transportation personnel. According to current legal regulations, vehicles transporting waste oil must obtain a “Compliance Certificate” from the Turkish Standards Institute (TSE) and “Transport License” from the Provincial Directorates of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change.
The personnel who will be involved in waste oil transportation vehicles must obtain a “Driver Training Certificate” from authorized institutions and organizations such as the International Drivers Association (USD) and the International Transporters Association (UND) that provide training for drivers of vehicles carrying hazardous materials and waste. The training provided in Türkiye is in accordance with the “European Agreement Concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR)”, which covers the principles related to safe transportation of dangerous substances on highway.
As of 2010, Türkiye acceded to the ADR agreement and implemented the necessary legal regulations. ADR agreement covers and regulates the responsibilities, training, labeling and marking of used packing and vehicles, as well as the safe transportation of dangerous goods on highways, pertaining to manufacturers, fillers, loaders, carriers of hazardous substances, vehicle drivers, vehicle owners, senders and recipients of dangerous goods and waste, and manufacturers of vehicles and tankers.
The management systems and legal frameworks for the transportation of waste oils in Europe vary. In countries such as Netherlands and UK, the collection and transportation of waste oils are subject to free market conditions. In Finland, the government is responsible for all organization, and expenses are covered through fees paid under producer responsibility. The system implemented in France shows similarities to the system applied in Finland. Most EU countries, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia and Croatia, implement Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs.
Figure 1. Waste oil transportation vehicle in Türkiye (PETDER).
Characteristics of waste oil transportation vehicles
Since waste oils are ecotoxic, the tanker (bodywork) should be designed to be suitable for transporting ADR Classs 9 UN 3082 materials and should be certified by organizations authorized for ADR tanker manufacturing. When a waste oil tanker is mounted on the vehicle and fully loaded, the axle load distribution on the vehicle should be within the legal carrying capacities of the axles. Waste oil transportation vehicles should have traffic insurance, comprehensive insurance, optional financial liability insurance, and hazardous material transportation insurance. A safety system that will shut down the system in case of emergencies during the collection/delivery process of waste oil in the tanker should have 3 controllers, one in front, one in the rear, and one on the side of the vehicle.
There should be a system in the tanker that automatically closes the valves to prevent the tank from overflowing when the quantity of waste oil in the tanker exceeds the safety level (90%). In order to prevent sludge accumulation, the tanker should have a fully elliptical cross section and be suitable for bottom and top filling. The tank body as well as the back and front cambers, should be manufactured as a structure made from high strength aluminum / aluminum alloy material with a wall thickness of at least 5 mm and in compliance with ADR standards. In case the tank is taken off the vehicle and placed on another carrier in the event of a possible rollover, the connection of the tank to the vehicle chassis must be made with the auxiliary chassis of the tanker, which should be manufactured with a completely seamless bolted connection, including the chassis cross-sections.
In each compartment of the tank, there should be at least one manhole of a suitable size, allowing entry when it is necessary, and with a minimum diameter of 20 inches. The manholes should be equipped with standard-sized, lockable and sealable ADR-compliant manhole covers. The manhole covers should have ventilation valves providing a 90/10 mbar pressure/vacuum safety and an overfill safety sensor.
The manhole covers and the walkway platform should be enclosed within a containment area extending from the front to the rear of the tank. The walkway platform should be constructed from aluminum material of suitable design and dimension to provide anti-slip safety features. There should be a double-sided guardrail made of aluminum profile/pipe on the edge of the walking platform, which can be opened and closed mechanically, with a height of at least 900 mm when opened. The guardrail should be easily and safely opened by the driver. To provide secure access to the top of the tank, there must be a folding type ladder made of aluminum material with anti-slip steps at the back of the vehicle.
Each compartment of the tank must have a certified ADR-compliant, pneumatic-controlled, pressure-balancing, 4-inch hydraulic bottom valve (these valves automatically cut off the flow in case of damage to the piping system in the event of an accident). The discharge pipes should be manufactured as a single piece of twisted piping with no joints or elbows. The discharge-filling equipment and other necessary mountings must be housed within a fixture cabinet made of at least 3 mm thick aluminum material that provides sufficient dust and water sealing. There should be special cabinets on the vehicle for storing oil-contaminated rags and specially designed drum-carrying equipment.
Vehicles must have a necessary equipment to measure the received waste oil quantity either volumetrically or by weight. There should be a sufficient number of various connection adapters compatible with the tank/drum connections of waste oil producers and recovery and disposal facilities, and the amount of waste oil inside the tanker should be detectable manually and electronically. Manual level detection should be designed to allow level measurement with a measuring rod.
The vehicle should be equipped with a pump system suitable for pumping waste oil for both filling and discharge, including a replaceable filter arrangement at the pump inlet to capture particles in the waste oil. The pump should be capable of intake from a minimum depth of 30 meters and similarly have a discharge height of at least 30 meters. There should be a mechanical indicator and a liter based counter in the pump filling and discharging system, allowing readings for both pumped discharging and filling (from an external tank) quantities, and the counter should have the capacity to measure within the pump’s minimum and maximum flow range and pressure.
The totalizer section indicates the total amount and is non-resettable, while the numerator section must have at least 4 digits and can be reset. In the pump outlet (after the numerator), there should be a hose with a minimum length of 30 meters and a diameter of 1.5 inches. Connection fittings at the hose’s outlet must be equipped with a meshed, check valve coupling connected to the hose by reduction. In addition to that, there should be two pressure resistant hoses with a diameter of 2 inches matching the length of the tank in the vehicle.
Figure 2. Waste oil transportation vehicle in EU.
Safety equipment on waste oil transportation vehicles
In waste oil transportation vehicles, in accordance with general occupational safety rules, to ensure the protection of human health and environment, snow chains, fire extinguisher, spare wheel, first aid supplies, chocks, safety belt, operational safety warning/caution signs, and a drum transportation cart must be constantly available.
Personnel involved in waste oil collection operations should wear flame-resistant working clothes specifically designed for use in the petroleum industry, appropriate gloves, safety goggles, helmet, and suitable shoes during waste oil collection and delivery. Drums should never be carried manually, and the vehicle should be equipped with a drum transportation cart capable of carrying 200-liter drums for these tasks.
Fire extinguishers should be kept readily accessible from their holders. Fire extinguishers’ pressure manometers should be checked daily, shaken upside down weekly to prevent dust from sticking to the bottom.
According to traffic regulations, the mandatory first aid kit in a vehicle should contain at least 2 large bandages (10 cm x 3-5 m), 1 box of sterile gauze pads (10 x 10 cm, 50 pieces per box), 1 triangular bandage, 1 packet of cotton wool (70 grams), 1 roll of plaster (2 cm x 5 m), 10 safety pins, 1 small pair of scissors (stainless steel), 1 esmarch bandage, 1 tourniquet (at least 50 cm made of woven textile material) and 1 plastic sheet (150 cm x 200 cm).
Vehicles should be equipped with emergency hammers that have sharp end for jammed seatbelts and a pointed end for breaking windows, allowing them to be removed from the cabin in the event of any traffic accident. These hammers should be mounted in an easily accessible place. In the event of an accident, safety tapes (bands) should be available to secure accident area. Safety warning/caution signs should be used to secure the tank area during waste oil collection and delivery operations.
For the cleanup of potential spills during waste oil collection and delivery operations, each transportation vehicle should have spill cleanup kits available in a set. The spillage cleanup kits should consist of absorbent cloth and sausage-type absorbent pads that do not absorb water but absorb oil. The used kits should be replaced before the vehicle starts to transport waste oil. Inside the kit, there should be at least a 10-meter-long sausage-type absorbent pad to contain the spilled waste oil area, and additionally, there should be at least 5m2 of absorbent material for cleaning up the waste oil spill within the controlled area.
