Market Research Reports: Used Oils and Re-refined Lubricants

Used oil is any mineral- or synthetic fluid-based oil that has been used in automotive and industrial applications for lubrication, power transmission, cooling, and other such functions and has become unsuitable for its original purpose. There are many routes/options available for the disposal of these used oils, each with a different economic and environmental impact. One of the routes/options available is to send the collected used oil to a re-refinery to produced re-refined baseoils and with the addition of appropriate additive packages a re-refined finished lubricant.

The re-refining industry is growing rapidly in the United States due to two favorable factors. First, the quality of re-refined baseoils is improving dramatically. This is due to improvements in the refining process and improvement in the quality of used oils collected due to better collection practices and penetration of Group II and Group III basestocks in virgin lubricants. Second, rising crude oil prices have driven up baseoil prices, making re-refining economically attractive. As re-refining capacity in the United States increases, the competition for acquisition of used oil, as well as sales of re-refined lubricants, is becoming more severe. To evaluate their business attractiveness, re-refiners need to answer two key questions:

• What is the availability of used oil in my sphere of operation?
• What is the awareness, acceptance, and demand for re-refined lubricants in my target market?

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of these key questions for all key markets in the United States.

Used Oils and Re-refined Lubricants: U.S. Market Analysis and Opportunities focuses on key lubricant consuming states within the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii). The study follows the Petroleum Administration for Defence District (PADD) segmentation, as shown in the figure. The base year for the study data is 2011.

Subscribers to this study will gain an understanding of the used oil and re-refining market within in each state in terms of used oil generation, collection, and disposal and the orientation of lubricant end users and buyers to re-refined lubricants. Specifically, the study seeks to answers questions such as:

Used Oil Generation, Collection, and Disposal

• What is the lubricant consumption in each PADD?
• What is the annual used oil generated in each PADD as per the usage practices?
• What is the share of generated used oil that is collected in each PADD?
• How is the collected used oil disposed in each PADD? For fuel applications? For re-refining? For other applications?

Re-Refined Lubricant Market Potential

• What is the orientation of key market segments--commercial, consumer, and industrial--towards lubricants blended from re-refined oils?

Kline & Company’s leadership role in providing high-quality market information on the global lubricant and lubricant basestocks industry is based primarily on primary research. Although secondary sources, such as the Internet, trade publications, government statistics, import-export statistics, and others, are used, the primary research methodology employed in Used Oils and Re-refined Lubricants: U.S. Market Analysis and Opportunities is telephone interviews and personal visits with re-refiners, end users, blenders, technology companies, additive suppliers, government agencies, trade associations, and other industry experts. All in-depth interviews, analysis, and report writing were conducted by a team of Kline & Company professionals and associates with decades of experience in baseoil sales, consulting and technical service.