GSJ: Volume 8, Issue 5, May 2020, Online: ISSN 2320-9186 www.globalscientificjournal.com Analytical Study of the Physicochemical Properties of CondemnedCrankcase Oil and its Regenerated Form Obtained by a Combination of Acid Treatment and Multiple Beds Extraction Approach Dr. Anietie E. Ekot Department of Chemistry, Akwa Ibom State University, P.M.B. 1167 Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria Email Address: anietieekot@gmail.com ABSTRACT: The physicochemical properties of condemned lube oil and its regenerated mineral base sampleswere determined to evaluate the environmental impact of the former on one hand, and to devise a recycling approachthat would improve the quality of the latter on the other hand.The regenerated samples were obtained by amodified version of recycling technique involving a combination acid treatment and multiple beds extraction.The properties of the condemned oil , regenerated samples and fresh oil were evaluated based on the standard parameters viz: specific gravity, viscosity, acid number, ash and moisture as well as metal concentration.The resultsshowed that the condemned oil had the highest acid number of 5.41mgKOH/g as against the maximum prescribed limit of 0.05mgKOH/L.The heavy metals concentrations(mg/L) were: 2.177, 2.211, 0.092 and 1.522 for Cu(copper), Fe(iron), Pb(lead) and Zn(zinc) respectively. These values are above the EPA limits(in mg/L) of1.00, 0.30 and 0.015 for Cu, FeandPbrespectively; the only exception being the concentration Zinc(1.52mg/L) which is below the EPAlimit of 5.0mg/L. The above results revealed that the condemned oil is hazardous to the environment. Results based on the quality of basestock recovered showed the impurity difference between samples from acid treatment only and those from and acid treatment followed by multiple beds extraction as:0.011, 7cP, 0.07mgKOH/g , 0.39% and 0.10% for specific gravity, viscosity, acid number, ash and moisture contents respectively. Thisindicates that the basestocks regenerated from the latter method are of betterquality than those from the former. Keywords: Condemned Lube oil, Environmental Concern, Regeneration Approach 1.0 Introduction: Modern tribology has strongly underscored the need to reduce friction between two moving surfaces in contact through the use of fluids with high thermal and thermos-oxidative stabilities in order to protect the engine from tears and wears.Over the years crankcase mineral based oils which are marketedas SAE40 monograde and SAE- 20W50multigradehave been in useunder different names and trademarksfor the afore-stated purpose(Ekot and Ofunne, 2001).However this rating by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) is based majorly on only one of the physical properties of the lubricants namely, the viscosity. On the other hand the American Petroleum Institute (API) rating essentially measures the performance of the lube oil under normal operating conditions(Obiagwu,N.,2002). Whereas the viscosity of lubricants depends fundamentally on the hydrocarbon chain size present in the mineral base stock and increases with increase in the chain size, the lube oil’s performance characteristics depend essentially on the quality of additives incorporated in the mineral base oil obtained as one of the heavy distillates from the fractional distillation of crude oil (Austin, G.,1984).For lubricant to function optimally some amount of additives which may vary from a partper million to a large percentage must be GSJ: Volume 8, Issue 5, May 2020 ISSN 2320-9186 21 GSJ© 2020 www.globalscientificjournal.com