The Benefits Of Burning Used Fuels

Utilizing used oils as a source of burner fuel is one of the better ways to ensure you're getting the most out of a product. It's recycling in the simplest sense, with no need for further processing to make the product usable. If you're curious about the benefits of used oils as a burner fuel source, here are some things you should know about.

Environmental Friendliness

It's easy to assume that used oils might not be the most environmentally sound choice, but there are a few factors that challenge this assumption. There are a number of regulations in place that ensure that heaters will be utilized in as environmentally friendly a manner as possible, such as the rules that Massachusetts employs for commercial operators. Heaters designed explicitly for this purpose have to be engineered to minimize output of toxic pollutants. For this reason, you should always make sure that a furnace you're purchasing is designed to act as a waste-oil furnace. Notably, you will still have to properly dispose of the ash that's generated.

A big advantage of employing used oils is that you're not doubling up costs like you would by disposing of used oils and then bringing in fresh fuel. Transportation of fossil fuels is itself a very fossil fuel–intensive activity.

Cost Saving

Many businesses put used oils to work as a cost-saving measure. For example, one large bus fleet operator utilizes the products as burner fuel to save on disposal costs for the company's motor oil. Rather than having to pay to truck in new burner fuel for their furnace at their garage, they can simply take motor oil left over from oil changes from their own vehicles and use it to heat the same space.

Everything stays on site, except in years when the company has a surplus of used oils. Those are then transported off site for industrial fuel usage.

Versatility

It is reasonable to assume that you may not have enough on-site used oils to operate a system all the time. Fortunately, the manufacturers of heating systems appreciate this fact and build their units to be compatible with other sources of burner fuel. As you might imagine, a system that can incinerate a product like motor oil is generally going to be able to utilize a number of petroleum products. Always check with the manufacturer, though, before you use a specific fuel.

To learn more about using used oils, contact a company like Denver Used Oil.