Universal Environmental Services (Avista Oil USA) said it will commission its rerefinery in Peachtree City, Ga., tomorrow, with base oil shipments beginning May 16.
The new plant will initially produce 1,000 barrels per day of base oil using Avistas patented Enhanced Selective Refining (ESR) technology, Mike Reddick, vice president of sales and marketing, said in a statement. The rerefinery is expected to eventually produce 1,250 b/d at full capacity.
Our proven start-up process is to run only a few units in this phase and produce a high-quality 150N [API] Group I+ material, Reddick said. However, in the future, we expect to sell two cuts of Group II+ material with approvals from all the major additive companies.
In 2011, Avista acquired an initial 50 percent stake in UES, enabling it to grow its used oil collection business and plan the base oil rerefinery in Peachtree City. Later that year, UES also acquired the McPherson Oil Cos. used oil collection business. Avista has since increased its ownership stake in UES to 86 percent.
Avista plans to partner with another used oil collector to build a second rerefinery in North America. We are in negotiations with some potential partners, UES (Avista Oil USA) CEO Juan Fritschy told Lube Report last week.
Avista has two rerefineries in Europe. Mineralol-Raffinerie Dollbergen GmbH in Dollbergen, Germany, has 3,300 b/d of Group I capacity, and Dansk Olie Genbrug A/S in Kahlundborg, Denmark, has 800 b/d of Group I capacity.
Under Avistas ESR process, used oil is carefully cleaned of dirt particles by means of an environmentally compatible solvent while the valuable and reusable components of the oil are retained. According to Avistas web site, the process produces almost no waste products. The solvent is recycled and collected, and can be used again as often as necessary.