Environmental Lubricant Refining (Circular Economy)
An environmental technology enterprise located in Southeast Asia is dedicated to converting industrial waste lubricants back into high-quality reclaimed base oil through vacuum distillation and hydroprocessing. In the final stage of refining, the oil requires high-precision filtration to ensure appearance and physicochemical indicators.
In the petroleum re-refining process, the customer faces the following technical challenges:
Ultra-fine carbon black and polymers: Fine carbon black and oxidized polymers generated during waste oil reclamation are viscous, and traditional filter paper or bag filter cartridges are easily blocked by residual moisture and sticky substances in the oil.
Moisture affecting color: Southeast Asia's high temperature and humidity cause refined oil to absorb moisture during storage and transfer, and trace water makes the oil appear cloudy, affecting the finished product grade.
Filter media deformation and accuracy loss: The re-refining process has large pressure fluctuations, and ordinary soft filter media will stretch under elevated differential pressure, causing already-intercepted particles to "break through."
High operating costs: Previously used imported consumable cartridge replacement cycles were short, with high annual consumable costs.
The customer installed multiple sets of customized JY-DX40 precision filtration systems on the finished product filling and process circulation lines:
Coalescence separation water removal: Utilizing the surface properties of the composite membrane, dispersed fine water droplets in the oil coalesce into larger droplets on the membrane surface, which are then removed under gravity or subsequent separation structures; the oleophilic properties ensure that high-viscosity lubricant can pass through with relatively low resistance. Pre-heat exchange control of oil temperature is required to optimize coalescence effect.
Rigid physical barrier: The rigid composite membrane structure provides strong mechanical support, maintaining stable pore size at 10–15 m³/h flow rate, ensuring 3 μm grade filtration precision (β₃ ≥200).
Three-dimensional contaminant capture structure: For carbon black and gums in re-refined oil, the membrane layer provides deep filtration space, extending the single cleaning/replacement cycle. The system is equipped with online CIP (clean-in-place) functionality for periodic flux restoration.
By introducing the JY-DX40, the factory's reclaimed base oil transparency improved markedly. Particle counts stabilized and moisture was kept within a safe threshold, resolving the oil "cloudiness" issue. The finished oil visually approached international premium-brand quality, meeting API Group II base oil standards. Thanks to the long service life of the composite membrane, filter material consumption costs were reduced by approximately 70%, effectively lowering the daily maintenance burden.
In Southeast Asian lubricant reclamation, controlling moisture and ultra-fine particles is the key to success. The JY-DX40's "oleophilic-permeable + coalescence water removal" performance brings our finished oil visually close to international premium brand quality, while the rigid membrane technology reduces daily maintenance burden. This is an important step in our environmental process upgrade.