A small company in Alpine may soon redefine the way the world re-refines used motor oil.
Interline Hydrocarbon, Inc. is days away from patenting a formula for re-refining oil that may well be the "cure for cancer with base oil," said Michael Williams, president of the parent company, Interline Resources.The new process is revolutionary because it costs half the amount of current procedures to re-refine oil, costs one-tenth the money currently needed to build the facilities and there are no harmful pollutants released into the atmosphere, said Curtis Morgan, president of Interline Hydrocarbon.
Interline uses a special solvent, invented by Salt Lake resident Craig R. Mellon, to clean used base oil. The solvent, which is recycled after each use, cleans water, impurities and additives from the oil, Williams said.
The residuals are stored in a tank and then used in asphalt, he said. They can also be used in roofing materials.
The new process has colossal implications, Williams and Morgan said. Ecologically, it could clean the oil fields left sullied in Kuwait by the gulf war. It also cleans hazardous wastes from the oil, wastes that are released into the atmosphere with today's common practices, he said.
Annually, 1.4 billion gallons of oil are dirtied in America. Only 8 percent of that is re-refined. Ninety percent of the 8 percent is burned, Morgan said, making oil the No. 1 source of airborne lead in the country.
Interline removes all the lead in its purification process.
"We've checked the facility over, and we believe it's clean," said Sandy Hunt, an environmental scientist in the used oil program of the Solid and Hazardous Waste Division of the Department of Environmental Quality.
Because of the plant's closed-loop system, no emissions or noxious odors are released into the atmosphere, Hunt said.
"We feel like there's not any kind of hazard for the public," she said.
Economically, Interline's technology is a boon to the industry, Williams said. Today's average re-refinery costs approximately $15 million to start up. Interline's costs $1 million.
Other re-refineries must process 40,000 gallons of oil a day to break even, said Morgan, former C.E.O. of the nation's first lube oil re-refinery, Evergreen Oil. Interline can process as small an amount as 3,000 gallons a day.
Morgan said today's Interline technology can increase the value of processed oil 50 percent to 100 percent over current market rates.
To prove its efficiency, Interline has built a 20-by-50-foot "plant" in Draper. The plant is capable of processing 3,000 gallons a day and shows potential buyers that the entire system does work, even on a small scale.
Large oil companies have been opposed to re-refining oil because it cuts into their profits, Williams said.
Only 3 percent of all crude oil is used to make lubricant or base oil, such as is used in automobiles, Morgan said. But the major oil companies make more money selling base oils than they do fuels, such as gas or diesel, he said.
Because of that, the oil industry has resisted the recycling industry's encroachment in the market.
Many people are hesitant to use recycled oil in their cars, Morgan said, because oil companies have made people think re-refined oil is not good enough.
That may change, however, as companies see the feasibility of the new process, Williams said. Oil companies may find implementing recycling facilities is advantageous to profit margins. Interline has spoken recently with most major oil companies involved with the production of base oil about buying the Interline process, Williams said.
"I suspect they will have a dramatic impact on the market," said Shane Smoot, environmental counsel for Quaker State-Minit Lube, headquartered in Salt Lake City.
"We are intrigued with the possibilities," he said. "It shows real promise."
Interline's biggest impact will be in creating a cleaner industrial burner fuel, Smoot said. But it may also create more options, such as diesel fuel or recycled motor oil, he added.
But there are some questions.
"We're not entirely persuaded that it can be returned to a base oil," Smoot said. Quaker State wants to perform its own tests to see if Interline's claims are accurate.
Smoot said officials from Quaker State looked at the Interline system last week and were very impressed, although they feel there is "some tweeking that needs to be done on the process."
Smoot said Quaker State would produce recycled oil for motor oil if the market demands it. He referred to a bill signed by President Clinton on October 20 requiring government vehicles to use recycled oil. If that trend expands, oil companies will look to fill the need, Smoot said.
The implications for international use are incredible, Williams said. South American countries will use the re-refined oil in their cars immediately, whereas Americans will have to adjust to that idea, he said.
Interline signed a letter of intent in mid-October with Western India Group, a New Delhi, India-based company that does business throughout Eastern India. The companies plan a joint venture to construct, own and operate crude oil recovery plants in India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirate, Oman, Kuwait, Iran, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Qatar.
Many more companies are interested, Williams said.
Stock in the company has risen from $1 to $5 a share in the last three months, Williams said. Interline is a publicly owned company.