Recycling & Reusing One of Earth’s Most Valuable Resources  

Used Oil Re-Refining

75+ Million Gallons of Used Oil Processed Annually. 55+ Million Gallons of Base Oils Produced Annually

Oil no longer has to be a non-renewable resource. Thanks to advanced technology, used oil can now be transformed into a renewable resource. By continuing to utilize innovation, technical expertise and capital investments, Crystal Clean has established itself as a leader in the oil re-refining industry and has become one of the largest re-refiners in North America. Re-refining is the environmentally responsible way to manage used oil, reducing greenhouse gas and heavy metal emissions.

Crystal Clean’s state-of-the-art oil re-refinery in Indianapolis, IN, commenced operations in 2011 and is permitted to process up to 75 million gallons of used oil per year. Used oil is transformed into high-quality Group II base oils, co-product fuels and vacuum tower asphalt extender. Re-refining operations are run 24/7 by a variety of experienced engineers, mechanics, operators, lab technicians and terminal technicians.

Our re-refined oil goes through rigorous laboratory testing to ensure it meets or exceeds API and ILSAC industry standards. All base oil products we produce are well suited for a wide variety of automotive, industrial and marine lubricants, as well as diluents for additives and process oil applications.

Storage capacity at our re-refinery exceeds 7 million gallons. Of this, 2 million gallons is dedicated for used oil feed and almost 2 million gallons is for HCC 150 Group II base oil. Additional storage capacity is for fuel and asphalt extender produced in our re-refining process.

Re-Refining Process

Collection & Consolidation

Professional Crystal Clean representatives collect used oil from generators, which is transported and consolidated at one of Crystal Clean’s regional hub facilities.

Testing

Samples of the consolidated used oil are sent to the re-refinery in Indianapolis for initial acceptance testing. Any used oil which does not pass acceptance testing is prepared as a recycled fuel oil and sold as fuel for a waste-to-energy operation.

Transportation

The used oil is transported to the re-refinery and goes through additional testing to ensure it meets all necessary quality specifications to produce high-quality finished products. After it passes testing, the used oil is unloaded by terminal technicians into a feed tank to mix together into a consistent load.

Vacuum Distillation

The used oil is fed into a vacuum distillation unit which boils the oil in an extreme vacuum environment. This separates the used oil into vacuum gas oils (VGO), light distillate fuels (LDF) and vacuum tower asphalt extender (VTAE).

Separation

Vacuum gas oils are separated and prepared for further re-refining. Light distillate fuels are burned for energy to power the re-refinery and the remaining fuel is combined and stored with the vacuum gas oils. The vacuum tower asphalt extender is extracted and stored in a separate tank.

Hydrotreatment

The vacuum gas oil is fed into a hydrotreatment unit. The unit consists of reactors containing a hydrogen-rich environment that use high temperatures and pressure to remove heavy metals, sulfur, oxygen and other contaminates from the oil.

Finishing

The treated vacuum gas oil is removed from the hydrotreatment unit and sent through a steam stripper to further separate it into distinct finished fuels and base oils.

Final Testing and Sales

The purified fuels and oils go through final testing to ensure they meet or exceed API and ILSAC industry standards, and are then prepared for sale in the marketplace.

Relevant Services

Waste collected from the following services have the ability to be disposed using Crystal Clean’s oil re-refining capabilities.