CEP Process

Chemical Engineering Partners is a process technology and licensing company offering a range of technologies and engineering services to re-refine used lubricating oils.

Re-refining is the term used to describe the use of chemical process technology to extract the lubricating base oil from used lubricants. Water, fuel oil, additives and sludge are separated from the base oil.

CEP's technology for re-refining uses vacuum distillation (Wiped Film Evaporation) and hydrotreating (also known as hydrofinishing). This technology is the most successful commercial method of re-refining and represents the highest value in the waste hierarchy of the circular economy. The CEP Process takes a waste product, used oil, and regenerates it into good-as-new base oil which meets API Group II specifications.

The proprietary CEP Re-refining Process is a six-step process consisting of:

• Pre-treatment, including depoisoning before Wiped Film Evaporation
• Dehydration/Defouling: water and light fuel removal, with CEP’s defouling process reducing fouling to increase on-stream availability and reduce maintenance costs
• Raw Gas Oil (Diesel) Removal
• Separation of Lube Distillate by Wiped Film Evaporation (WFE)
• Hydrotreatment to convert Lube Distillate to API Group II Base Oil
• Fractionation to split the base oil into desired viscosity cuts

Click below for a PDF of the CEP Process.

CEP Process with Stripper (PDF) (opens in a new tab)

Compared to making lube oil from crude oil, the CEP re-refining process only requires half as much energy to produce API Group II base oil from used oil. The finished product is of equal or better quality than base oil produced from crude oil. Furthermore, it reduces the producer’s carbon footprint by cutting CO₂ emissions compared to virgin refining. It conserves the most valuable fraction of a barrel of crude oil by re-refining it over and over again, making for a brighter future. Re-refining is safer and better for the environment than burning the used oil for fuel.

Contact Chemical Engineering Partners today to see how CEP can help you!