The most fundamental practices in the management of waste oil are minimizing the generation of waste oil at the source, and in cases where this is not possible, recovering raw materials through refining/regeneration, or obtaining energy through incineration when all these alternatives are not possible. It is possible to obtain high-quality base oils by treating waste oils in recovery processes while keeping environmental concerns in mind.
Recovery processes are the processes of removing all types of contaminants, oxidation products, and solid particles from waste oils to obtain base oil or petroleum products that meet national and/or international standards and specifications. The success of these processes usually depends on obtaining high efficiency and quality products, avoiding harmful effects on air, water and soil, and minimizing waste generation.
As for the situation of base oils in Türkiye, it is evident that base oil imports amounted to 586 thousand tons in 2022 and there was a 13.26% demand surplus. These results suggest that more than the required amount of lubricants is supplied to the market in Türkiye. The amount of waste oil after use is around 262 thousand tons (422,751 tons, 62% waste oil) based on annual consumption data. The total amount of engine and transmission oil placed on the market in Türkiye in 2022 is 281 thousand tons, and the amount of waste engine and transmission oil expected to be generated is 168 thousand tons (60%).
The amount of waste motor oil collected by PETDER in 2022 is only around 5 thousand tons. As the waste oil amounts collected by the refining plants authorized for collection in 2022 are unknown, there is a potential worst-case scenario of 160 thousand tons of waste oil being subject to illegal activities. These figures also include the amount of lubricant and base oil in demand surplus, and it is possible that the amount of oil that may be subject to illegal activities may reach much higher values. Accordingly, it is essential to ensure the management of waste oils within the framework of the legislation.
The procedures and principles regarding the management of waste oils (recovery, incineration, disposal) in Türkiye are stipulated in the “Regulation on the Waste Oil Management” published in the Official Gazette dated December 21, 2019, and numbered 30985. According to the Regulation,
- The natural and/or legal persons intending to establish and/or operate a waste oil refining plant are required to obtain an environmental license from the Ministry. As a result, a “trial production” with the Ministry and relevant institutions has been implemented to show that base oil is produced in accordance with the TS 13369 standard and the competence of the refining process in order to establish highly efficient waste oil refining facilities capable of producing high value-added products and to improve existing facilities for producing base oil from waste oils.
- For environmental license to be obtained, trial production is required to be conducted at the facilities. The trial production plan (TPP) is prepared in line with the plan format in Annex-4 of the Regulation and submitted to the Ministry by the refining facility. It is not possible to conduct trial production in facilities whose trial production plan is not approved by the Ministry.
- For facilities whose trial production plan has been approved by the Ministry, trial production continues until the production process is completed in order to show that the base oil is produced in accordance with the TS 13369 standard.
According to paragraph 5 of Article 13 of the “Waste Oil Management Regulation” on granting environmental licenses to waste oil refining facilities and trial production, TUBITAK Marmara Research Center (MAM) is authorized to conduct trial production, determine the process adequacy of the facilities, and prepare a technical compliance report. The trial production for waste oil refining facilities that apply to the Ministry within the scope of the Regulation based on this authorization is conducted in coordination with the project work initiated at TUBITAK MAM and a technical conformity report is prepared and submitted to the Ministry.
The results of the project conducted by TUBITAK MAM in cooperation with the Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change in accordance with the Regulation on Waste Oil Management are briefly presented below. In accordance with the principle of confidentiality, company titles are not included in the tables but rather coded. The base oils produced in line with the declarations of the companies were evaluated in TS 13369 Class 2 Type 1 Group 1 category and their compliance with the standard was determined, while the base oil produced by the company applying the hydro-treatment process was evaluated in TS 13369 Class 2 Type 2 Group 2 category.
Total 43 waste oil recovery facilities operating in 24 provinces prepared a Trial Production Plan and applied to the Ministry to obtain an environmental license in the January 2020 – March 2024 period when the Regulation entered into force. The total installed facility capacity for waste oil recovery activities in Türkiye is approximately 260 thousand tons/year according to the declarations of 40 companies, excluding three companies, in the trial production plan.
The results of the summarized evaluation of the recovery facilities in Türkiye by province are given in Table 1 and their schematic representation is provided in Figure 1. Accordingly, out of 43 companies as of the effective date of the regulation, 16 companies, including 9 licensed companies and 7 companies with temporary activity certificates (TAC), have started trial production. The number of companies in the evaluation process was 4 and the number of companies whose licenses were revoked was 20.
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