Critical Review of Existing Studies and Life Cycle Analysis on the Regeneration and Incineration of Waste Oils

One of the main axes of the Council Directive 75/439/EC on Waste Oils (WO), amended in 1987, is that, among the different options for recovery, priority is given to the regeneration of WO over their incineration. But several studies clearly demonstrate that Member States (MS) do not favour regeneration of WO, but on the contrary are widely using WO as fuel in industrial installations. Launched by the EC in the frame of the revision of this amended directive, the main objective of this study is to undertake a thorough technico-economic and environmental analysis of the literature available about the regeneration of WO and its comparison with their incineration.