Plant technology

The heart of SÜDÖL are our technical facilities.

To provide our services today and in the future, we rely on modern, efficient and future-proof plant technology. That is why we expend great technical effort on our factory premises to reprocess waste oils into marketable products in an environmentally friendly manner.

When waste oil is delivered to the plant, it is temporarily stored in daily containers. Subsequently, water, halogen and PCB content are tested in the company's own laboratory to categorise the waste oil for upcoming regeneration and to pump it into the appropriate storage tanks.

In waste oil regeneration, we adhere to existing limit values in respective treatment processes, in particular to the legal limit values established by the Waste Oil Ordinance. Category A waste oils may be reprocessed without restriction across the entire production range. For the production of lubricating oils, Category B waste oils may only be used to a limited extent due to their lower quality. These waste oils are either used for the production of flux oil (bitumen production) or, after dehydration, passed on for thermal use (e.g. in cement production).

The processing of waste oil in the waste oil refinery is divided into the following process steps:

Dewatering by distillation
Thermal cracking
Refinery
Post-treatment and blending

Used oils may pass repeatedly through regeneration processes. In our own refineries, we have the best conditions for extracting high-grade quality products from used oil that compete successfully with primary products.

Our plant technology at a glance

Distillation plant and product tank farm

The distillation process is a highly effective method of converting waste oils into reusable
products.

The mixture to be separated passes through the distillation plant in various stages or process
steps. In this process, base oils are obtained that are fed back into the lubricating oil
production, also referred to as gas oil.

In thermal separation processes of our distillation plant we work with reduced overall
pressure. This lowers the boiling temperature of the mixture to be separated which enables
the distillation of mixtures of substances. The mixture is then subject to vacuum distillation.

We use distillation processes to recover products from waste oils in order to separate
substances that are difficult to evaporate. The distillation plant operation makes it possible
to save and optimally use valuable energy.

Pursuant to § 19 Water Management Act waste oils are substances hazardous to water and
must be stored and handled safely in accordance with regulations. Our tank farm complies
with the requirements of the Waste Oil Ordinance i.e. our company meets the legal
standards for environmentally sound disposal.

Our tank farm is specially equipped for the storage of class AIII and AI flammable liquids

Emulsion evaporation plant and waste water tank farm

As a certified waste management company, SÜDÖL operates various product tank farms
which are used for the storage of intermediate products as well as end products.

Water is one of the most important resources of our time and is increasingly turning into a
scarce commodity. That is why wastewater treatment and its associated water quality are
becoming ever more important.

With the energy-efficient SÜDÖL emulsion evaporation plant, wastewater may be purified
according to the latest state of the art.

The plant ensures the current wastewater ordinance is complied with, it fulfils valid noise
requirements in the purification process and also ensures optimal exhaust air purification.
As regards our product tank farms, we attach great importance to their safe, stable and
economic operation in the long term.

Processing systems

As a supplement to our collection concept for hazardous waste, tailored to the workshop
and industry, SÜDÖL Umwelt Service-Recycling GmbH operates several of its own
processing plants with specific plant utilisation.

Oil filter reprocessing

We have been successfully operating oil filter reprocessing plants for more than a decade.
Oil filter reprocessing contributes to the conservation of raw materials with a high recovery
rate for metals and oil.

Processing of metal and plastic containers

We recycle metal and plastic containers with oil residues in special processing plants. Metal
and plastic containers originate mainly from the mineral oil sector.

Solvent recycling plant

Together with RECOSOIL Recycling GmbH as our partner, SÜDÖL Recycling GmbH has been
operating a solvent recycling plant since 2006.

The purpose of this plant is the reprocessing of used washing agents from the printing
industry.

Rollers installed in printing presses require regular cleaning at set intervals. During the
cleaning process washing agents used become contaminated which means they need to be
properly disposed of and reprocessed. This is a service SÜDÖL Recycling GmbH provides in
compliance with legal regulations.

In the solvent recycling plant high-quality solvent components are recovered from washing
emulsions and reused in a customer-specific manner, thereby making a further contribution
to the circular economy.