Castrol’s experiment-focused subsidiary, Nexcel, re-refined waste products to produce a liter of automotive-grade engine oil.
The company started with a liter of used engine oil. But the additive package apparently included 500 mL of used fryer oil, 180 chewing gum pellets, a gram of used silicon sealant, 14 used C-size batteries and an old Christmas tree.
“For this particular project we wanted to make the entire oil from waste materials, and the challenge lay in the creation of the chemical additives,” said Nexcel sustainability director John Ward-Zinski in a statement to CNet Road Show. “Few people would think that discarded Christmas trees and old chewing gum could have a commercial or environmental value, but our engine oil shows this is anything but the case.”
Nexcel is perhaps best known for launching a self-contained oil cell system, which was adopted by Aston Martin’s track supercar.
Changing the oil with the cell system was advertised as a 90-second job, simply removing and replacing the battery-like unit. The company also focuses on re-refining used motor oil, which has been a major destination for waste oil from quick lube shops.
