Ruisike Co., a subsidiary of Chinese automaker Chery, began construction this month on a used lubricant rerefinery in Fanchang, Anhui province. The facility is expected to be completed in early 2020 and will have capacity to process 40,000 metric tons per year of used oil.
The company is also building a 40,000 t/y lubricant blending plant on the same site, according to an official who told Lube Report it will make industrial lubes.
Ruisike is primarily a waste recycling business, and the company said it undertook the rerefining venture to further that mission. Officials said that China generates large amounts of used lubricants – much of which is not recycled – and that it expects the overall volume to grow by 50 percent by 2020.
The company declined to discuss the cost of the project or the processing technology that it will use and did not specifically disclose its base oil production capacity. It did say that management expects sales from the operation to reach 700 million to 750 million (U.S. $102 million to $109 million).
Also based in Anhui province in the city of Wuhu, Chery is owned by the provincial government and is Chinas 10th-largest automaker.