3rd AMIREG International Conference (2009): Assessing the Footprint of
Resource Utilization and Hazardous Waste Management, Athens, Greece
Recovery of waste lubricant oil contained in used automotive filters
G. Gaidajis and K. Angelakoglou
Department of Production Engineering and Management, School of Engineering, Democritus Uni-
versity of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece
ABSTRACT
About 7.2 million automotive filters utilized in
passenger cars are annually consumed in
Greece, with only a small percentage of them
being recycled and the rest being disposed in the
environment. In other words, based on our ex-
periments it is estimated that a maximum of
1260 tons of used oil and 1713 tons of steel are
disposed every year in Greece, as a result of the
non-effective management of used automotive
filters. In this paper, the factors affecting the re-
covery of the lubricant oil contained in used
automotive filters are evaluated and quantified
through experimental measurements. Further-
more, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a used
automotive oil filter containing lubricant oil is
performed, in order to evaluate and quantify the
environmental benefits arising from the applica-
tion of a used filter recycling scheme.
1. INTRODUCTION
Transportation is considered to be one of the
most developing sectors in Europe. It is esti-
mated that between 1990 and 2004, vehicles in
Europe increased by nearly 40%, whereas since
then the annual increase continually grows. In-
dicatively, there were 216 million passenger
cars in total in the EU25 in 2004, according to
the European Statistics Office (Eurostat, 2006).
The impacts of such an increase are mainly at-
mospheric pollution, a rise in the consumption
of raw materials and fuels, noise pollution, traf-
fic accidents and the need for treatment of waste
products such as tires, oils, etc. All those aggra-
vate the quality of urban environment and entail
significant financial cost.
107
According to data from the National Statis-
tics Office in Greece (2009), the number of pas-
senger cars that were used regularly in 2007 was
approximately 4.800.000. Considering that a
passenger car travels annually an average
15.000 kilometers (km), and the majority of the
automobile industries recommend a change in
the used oil filters every 10.000 kilometers, it is
estimated that 7.200.000 lubricant filters are
used in Greece every year, taking into account
only the filters used by passenger cars.
It is obvious that due to the great develop-
ment of the transportation sector, the overuse of
passenger cars and the characteristics of the
automobile industries, trying to find better tech-
niques for reusing or recycling even the smaller
parts of a vehicle, could have a significant im-
pact on the environment.
2. EXPERIMENTAL
2.1 Filter Description and Choice
A typical automotive oil filter has a cylindrical
shape with a closed dome on the upper side. In-
ternally, there is a paper-made cylindrical filter
enhanced with cellulose, through which the oil
flows, and the undesirable components are fil-
tered. At the bottom of the filter there is a valve
that averts the non-filtered oil from flowing in
the engine when it is turned off. The particular
valve is also the inhibitory factor that prevents
the oil from leaking during the removal of the
filter from the vehicle. The shell, the base and
the central chamber of the filter are made of
steel. There are generally two kinds of automo-
tive oil filters, the light duty filters used in pas-
senger cars and motorcycles and the heavy duty
3rd AMIREG International Conference (2009): Assessing the Footprint of 108
Resource Utilization and Hazardous Waste Management, Athens, Greece

filters used in trucks, buses etc. The light duty

(LD) filters comprise 75% of the oil market
while the heavy duty (HD) filters comprise the
remaining 25% (Peaslee and Roberts, 1997a).
The majority of LD oil filters are relatively
small, with a diameter between 6 and 12 cm and
a height between 7 and 15 cm.
The disposal of the used filters without fur-
ther treatment to remove the lubricant which
remains confined, not only wastes precious re-
sources of steel, petroleum and landfill volume,
but is also hazardous for the environment, as the
lubricant contained in the filter will eventually
pollute both the soil and the water streams
nearby. The most developed techniques used for
the removal of the used oil are simple infiltra-
tion, punctuation of the upper dome and infiltra-
tion, dismantling (using this technique the steel Figure 1: The experimental arrangement used in this
is also reclaimed) and shredding (using this study.
technique the steel is also reclaimed).
Due to the large variety of filters, this study flow gives remarkable quantity of lubricant.
focused on specific filters. For their selection,
their market share in Greece was used. Accord- 2.3 Sampling
ing to data from the Association of Motor Vehi- Several blank filters of each filter type were
cle Importers-Representatives (AMVIR, 2009) weighted prior their use in order to estimate
in Greece, the top three best-selling car indus- their net weight, without the presence of used
tries for 2007 were TOYOTA (Filter Type 1) oils, metal scrap and other substances within the
with a share of 9,9%, OPEL (8,3%, Filter Type filter body. Then, every used filter was weighted
2) and VOLKSWAGEN (7,9%, Filter Type 3), again solely, so as to figure out the weight of
resulting to a combined 26,1% of total sales in embodied lubricant (Table 1).
Greece. The measurements were conducted in a con-
2.2 Sampling arrangement trolled environment room where the temperature
was maintained constant at 25°C. For low tem-
The aim of the present experimental study was perature measurements the filters were placed
to examine the maximum capability of infiltra- outdoors on periods of cold temperatures (0°C).
tion of the embodied lubricant oil contained in Used filters were stored in shelves; during their
used filters. The most important factors affect- transportation filters were kept at an upside
ing the infiltration of the filter is the angle, the down position.
punctuation of the dome, as well the tempera- The concept that was followed during sam-
ture and the viscosity of the embodied oil (Rob- pling aimed to investigate only one factor per
erts and Peaslee 1998). The filters were placed time. Then, by using the best factor according to
in different orientation in order to examine the the results, we proceeded to the examination of
above mentioned factors (Fig. 1). the next factor and so on. As a result, a best case
Furthermore, the results were examined ac- scenario was identified. The flow chart of the
cording to the duration in which the observed experiments is shown in Figure 2 along with the

Table 1: Net and gross weight of the filters.

Net weight of fil- Gross weight of Net weight of Standard deviation of
Filter Type
ter (kg) filter (kg) oil (kg) net weight of oil
Type 1 (n=51) 0.218 0.351 0.133 0.016
Type 2 (n=51) 0.260 0.420 0.160 0.018
Type 3 (n=51) 0.364 0.598 0.234 0.019
3rd AMIREG International Conference (2009): Assessing the Footprint of 109
Resource Utilization and Hazardous Waste Management, Athens, Greece

Pierced Non-Pierced 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Filter Filter
A description of the percentage of infiltration
for every stage examined is given on Figure 3.
Pierced
Best percentage
of infiltration Results have shown that the maximum infil-
Filter tration (Table 2) is achieved under higher tem-
peratures (25οC), on filters that have been punc-
tuated and their infiltration was performed at 0ο
0° angle 30° angle 60° angle 180° angle angle (dome being on the top, Fig. 1a). More-
over, at a time period greater than 600 seconds
(10 minutes) the infiltration rate was practically
close to zero (Zokas, 2008).
Best percentage According to these results, an easy, simple
0° angle of infiltration
and quick protocol can be followed at the work-
shops where the filters of the cars are changed,
which will include:
– filter dome puncturing,
Temperature Temperature – infiltration for 10 minutes,
0°C 25 °C
– at 00 angle,
– at the highest temperature available
Temperature (room).
25 °C Best percentage By following these simple steps, 50-55% of
of infiltration used oil that is trapped in the filter, can be re-
Figure 2: Flow chart of the experiments performed. covered. Taking into account that the amount of
experimental conditions that produced the most this oil was found to be an average 175 g then
favorable infiltration results (grey boxes). 630-693 tons of lubricant oil from filters can be
During the experiments, 153 filters were used incorporated to the quantity of lubricants for re-
and 3813 measurements were performed. The cycling. Furthermore, if a recycling method
average duration of the experiment for every fil- such as dismantling or shredding is used, then a
ter was 30 minutes. considerable amount of steel can be reclaimed.
In our experiments the average weight of our
filters before their use was 280 g in accordance

Figure 3: Percentage of infiltration for all stages examined.

3rd AMIREG International Conference (2009): Assessing the Footprint of
Resource Utilization and Hazardous Waste Management, Athens, Greece
Table 2: Description of the experiments performed.
Number of filters Angle (degrees)
Stage 1 3 0
3 0
Stage 2 60 0 25
45 30
30 60
15 180
Stage 3 3 0
with the average light duty oil filter proposed by
Oil filter Manufacture Council (283 g) (Smailer
et al., 2002). Considering that a new oil filter is
made of 85%wt steel (Peaslee and Roberts,
1997b), the saving for 100% recycling of used
automotive oil filters would be 1713 tons of
steel. However this is a very optimistic state-
ment as 100% recycling of steel from used oil
filters is most of the times practically impossible
due to scrap quality and steel disposed with the
filter media.
4. USING LCA TO ANALYZE THE IM-
PACTS OF FILTER RECYCLING
During the experimental part it was concluded
that there is a potential of saving a maximum of
1260 tons of used lubricant oil and 1713 tons of
steel coming from the disposal of untreated used
automotive oil filters. Yet, in order to fully un-
derstand the positive environmental impacts of
saving these amounts, further analysis is
needed. Environmental impacts caused by addi-
tional activities in order to recycle, separate, de-
liver the filters to recycling facilities, etc. need
to be taken into account. Therefore the Life Cy-
cle Assessment (LCA) method was chosen for
our analysis.
In general, LCA is a methodology developed
to examine the environmental impacts of a prod-
uct or a system considering all steps, from
manufacture to end of life. Although LCA is not
fully developed, some standard steps have been
created for those who wish to implement it (ISO
14040 series). The current LCA was performed
using the SimaPro 7.1 software.
The goal of the current LCA is to evaluate
and quantify the environmental benefits arising
from the application of a used filter recycling
scheme. For the specific LCA analysis there is
no need to define the complete production proc-
110
Percentage of Infiltra-
Temperature (°C) Punctuation
tion
25 Yes 50-51%
25 No 9-12%
Yes 50-55%
25 Yes 45-50%
25 Yes 28-34%
25 Yes 15-17%
0 Yes 30-35%
ess of the filter, and only its material content is
important, since for the recycled and non recy-
cled filters the impacts due to processes and en-
ergy use will not differ; furthermore, no reuse is
possible. In other words only extraction and
processing of raw materials and waste scenarios
will be taken into account, setting the bounda-
ries of the LCA. During the use phase it was
considered that the filter is not consuming any
energy or material thus it does not affect the as-
sessment.
In addition, because no comprehensive data
from the filter’s manufacturers were available
(such as exact type of steel, processes and ma-
chines used for the assembly, energy consumed,
etc.), some assumptions and simplifications had
to be made. Only data provided by SimaPro da-
tabases were used.
In order to examine the goal of this study,
two different scenarios were created. For the
pessimistic scenario, the filters are disposed to a
landfill untreated, including all the quantity of
oil remaining within their body. No further
processes are entered in the life cycle for this
scenario. For the second (optimistic) scenario, it
was considered that a lorry (7.5-16 tons capac-
ity) collects the filters and transports them to re-
cycling facilities where 100% of the steel and
oil are recycled, whereas the cellulose (filter)
and the rubber (gasket) are disposed in a land-
fill. The functional unit was one (1) average
used light duty oil filter.
The impact assessment method used in this
study was Eco-indicator 99 (EI99). A non-
metric unit, called Points (Pt), is used in Eco-
indicator to evaluate the impact of a product or
process. More points mean worst efficiency for
the environment.
Results have shown that recycling is prefer-
able when it comes to the issues of resources
depletion and human health deterioration. How-
3rd AMIREG International Conference (2009): Assessing the Footprint of
Resource Utilization and Hazardous Waste Management, Athens, Greece
Figure 4: Single scores for the two scenarios examined (note that less Pt is better for the environment).
ever, there is no significant difference on eco-
system quality. More specifically, use and de-
pletion of fossil fuels and minerals have the
most negative impact and are those factors
greatly affected by a filter’s life cycle. Of less
importance, but generally high, is the produc-
tion of respirable inorganics and the effect to
climate change. In all categories except ecotox-
icity recycling is better than untreated disposal.
A single score for every scenario is given in
Figure 4. As a final statement we can claim that
recycling oil filters makes sense from an envi-
ronmental point of view. However the differ-
ence between recycling and disposal was not
found to be very significant. This is probably
because, first of all, many simplifications have
been made and also the results from recycling
the lubricant oil are unspecified due to lack of
data from the software.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The competition of car industries, the develop-
ment of technology, the opening of new mar-
kets, and the advantages of using cars, result in
a constant increase of the number of cars world-
wide. Consequently, their impact on the envi-
ronment is growing. In Greece, the underling
practices for the treatment of waste products
such as the used automotive filters need further
improvement. In this paper, some basic factors
111
affecting the infiltration of used filters were ex-
amined, proposing a simple framework that can
save up to 693 tons of lubricant oil every year.
Furthermore a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of
a used automotive oil filter containing lubricant
oil was performed, in order to evaluate and
quantify the environmental benefits arising from
the application of a used filter recycling scheme.
Results have shown that recycling seems prefer-
able from an environmental point of view.
However the LCA performed was more like a
screening life cycle rather than a complete one.
From that aspect more data are needed in order
to fully evaluate our goals.
REFERENCES
Association of Motor Vehicle Importers-Representatives
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http://www.seaa.gr/data/pdf/2007-12-b.pdf (access 19-
01-2009).
Eurostat News Release, 125/2006-19 September 2006,
issued by Eurostat Press Office.
Greek National Statistics Office, http://www.statistics.gr/
gr_tables/S602_SME_3_TB_AN_07_2_Y_BI.pdf
(access 19-01-2009)
Peaslee, K.D. and D.E. Roberts, 1997a. The Future of
Used Oil Filter Recycling in Missouri: An Evaluation
of Potential Processes, Product Quality, Recycling
Locations, and Economics. Technical Bulletin.
Peaslee, K.D. and D.E. Roberts, 1997b. Characterization
of used automotive oil filters for recycling. Resources,
Conservation and Recycling, 19, pp. 81-91.
3rd AMIREG International Conference (2009): Assessing the Footprint of 112
Resource Utilization and Hazardous Waste Management, Athens, Greece

Smailer, R.M., G.L. Dressel and J.H. Hill, 2002. A Feasi-

bility Study for Recycling Used Automotive Oil Fil-
ters in a Blast Furnace, AISI Contract TRP-9, Project
No.0041, American Iron and Steel Institute, January
2002.
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factors influencing the removal of oil from used auto-
motive oil filters during recycling operations. Re-
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