News & Press
Featured Article: NORA Member Spotlight on Blue Tide Environmental
Blue Tide’s commitment to being the leading re-refiner of high-performance base oils has been recognized by NORA, the premier association of responsible recyclers for used oil, in the latest issue of their industry publication, “Liquid Recycling”. This four-page spread examines the needs of an evolving industry and explains how Blue Tide is uniquely positioned to …
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Health, Safety & Environment Value in Action
Blue Tide's core values mean significant benefits for our customers like ensuring continuity of the quality, amount and origin of our products.
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Integrity & Respect Value in Action
Blue Tide Environmental (BTE) continues to make great strides in re-refining with our Core Values as a North Star. These values serve as guiding principles that shape our company’s culture, decision-making process, and overall success. Two of BTE’s Core Values are Integrity and Respect. These two traits work together to foster trust and long-term relationships …
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Used Oil Collection (UMO)
The United States consumes approximately 2.5 billion gallons per year of oil-based lubricants, roughly half automotive and half industrial. It is estimated that approximately 1.4 billion gallons of used oil is available for collection and re-use each year. Much of the collected used oil is burned and contains a slew of chemicals that create harmful emissions when combusted. By re-refining used oil, these harmful emissions are avoided, and the used oil can be re-refined several times. Our process uses less energy when compared to virgin lubricant production and results in lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Used Oil Feedstock
To guarantee that the oil collected is of the highest quality, our state-of-the-art lab applies a rigorous internal screening and approval process. Once the testing is complete, and the oil is verified, the re-refining process begins.
Dehydration
All used oil contains some percentage of water. The first step is to remove the water at an elevated temperature and a moderate application of vacuum. Any light fuels, such as gasoline or diesel that were inadvertently mixed with the used oil, are also removed and recovered during this step. These light fuels are the basis of our bt Industrial Fuels.
Industrial Fuels
Spec sheets coming soon.
Vacuum Distilation
After the water and fuel have been removed, the UMO stream is vacuum distilled using a wiped film and short path evaporator technology to segregate the vacuum gas oil (bt VGO) from the heavier hydrocarbons that become our bt FLUX.
Flux
Hydrotreating
The VGO stream is then introduced into a high temperature, high pressure catalytic hydrotreating unit to remove remaining impurities. The upgraded stream is a highly paraffinic base oil that meets American Petroleum Institute (API) Group II/II+ specifications—bt70, bt120 and bt220— suitable for blending into a wide variety of automotive and industrial lubricants. A high quality gas oil we call bt GO, is also produced as part of this process.
BTGO
Lubricants Market
Products are then sold into the lubricants market where they are blended into high quality motor oils, lubricating oils and other industrial products. After these products have served their useful life, they can be re-refined again.