Paris, France-based environmental services firm, Veolia Environnement and Total inaugurated the Osilub plant at the Gonfreville lOrcher site in Normandy (France) last Friday. Through its subsidiary SARP Industries, Veolia Environmental Services teamed up with the Total oil company's Lubricants entity, Total Lubrifiants, to form Osilub.
Osilub implements an innovative process developed by Veolia and designed to preserve the integrity of the oil's molecules. As the oil passes through a series of treatment stages, scraped film distillation sorts reusable components, removing foreign or contaminated elements with remarkable precision, yielding 75% regenerated oil. Treatment of the oil produced by Osilub is finished at the neighboring Total Lubrifiants plant.
After construction lasting 20 months, this plant will increase the motor oil treatment capacity in France and more generally in northwestern Europe, to regenerate used oil into high-grade lubricants.
The Gonfreville l'Orcher site, with 45 employees, a 55 million investment and an annual capacity of 120,000 metric tons, handles half of the current French market. Osilub also has its sights set on northwestern Europe (Great Britain, Ireland, Benelux, France), a market currently estimated to produce 745,000 metric tons of waste oil annually, with a recycling capacity of only 150,000 metric tons (excluding Osilub).
"Innovating in industrial solutions to transform our waste into new resources is one of the pillars of the new Veolia we are building. Our success will also be that of our clients and partners committed, along with us, to protecting our environment. The virtuous model created jointly with the Total group around Osilub and recycling used oil is a tangible example of an industrial world looking to the future and knowing how to combine economic growth with sustainable development,said Antoine Frérot, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Veolia Environnement. "The choice of Le Havre (France) was not down to chance; it reflects our deep commitment to the industrial sector in this region where we have invested almost 90 million in five years.
"One of the oil markets majors, Total is present in all stages of its life cycle. Osilub is representative of innovation that will make it possible to recover used oil in the best manner possible enabling us to provide our clients with very high quality products, in a virtuous process of a circular economy. Energy efficiency is at the heart of our Groups priorities, since it is one answer to todays environmental challenges and helps conserve precious fossil fuel resources, said Philippe Boisseau, President Marketing & Services and President New Energies, Total. "Osilub also marks the start of a new chapter in Totals history in Normandy. The Group already owns numerous facilities in this region and invests heavily there: especially at the Normandy Platform that includes a refinery and a benchmark petrochemicals plant.
It took several years of research to develop the process used at the Osilub plant: scraped-film vacuum distillation is based on processes used by the fine chemicals industry. It preserves the oil molecules and ensures a high yield. The base oil produced by Osilub will be treated in specific units, including the Normandy refinery, so it can be used in high-grade motor oils that meet the most recent specifications.
This industrial facility meets sustainable development targets compliant with the recycling priorities set by the European Union. It also boosts the presence in this region of Total and Veolia Environnement, two significant contributors to the economic and industrial fabric of the Normandy region.
Veolia Environnement, with more than 220,000 employees, provides tailored solutions to meet the needs of municipal and industrial customers in three complementary segments: water management, waste management and energy management. Veolia Environnement recorded revenue of 29.4 billion in 2012.
