Whats up with biodegradable motor oil?

Technically all oil is "biodegradable" in that there are all sorts of bacteria and microbes that thrive on it.

or you could, you know, just take it to the FLAPS, where they collect it and it gets turned into fuel oil for ocean ships.  Or any auto repair shop that has a waste-oil furnace, where it gets burned for heat.  Better to burn "waste" oil for heat than "new" hydrocarbons (be it fuel oil, or natural gas, which is the feedstock for synthetic motor oil).  Either way, for either case, the BTUs come out of the ground no matter what, at least this way it gets used for something more useful than "burning" before it gets burnt. 

Used motor oil is never just thrown away!

Biodegradable oil still can't just be dumped, as it would contain some amount of metals, etc. from the engine.  And that's assuming every additive is harmlessly biodegradable too, not just the base stock. 

So it’s a scam. Thanks, and what I figured. 

Weren't dinosaurs biodegraded into oil?

the earth can go #### itself.

Wow.  Off to a good start here.  Didn't realize the bar for 'hippy' is now so low.

Anyway, from a quick googling it appears that what they mean by biodegradable is plant based (as in fresh plants, not fossilized plants) oils as opposed to traditional oil crude.

It would have advantages in the unused state as an oil spill would be essentially like spilling vegetable oil, canola oil, avocado oil, etc.  But as rslifkin pointed out, once its been in a motor for 3000+ miles, its likely full of contaminants.

I saw some tests on oils recently and the "green oil" didn't fare so well.  I assume that is the oil you are talking about. 

_ said:

Does this stuff work? I’m no hippy, the earth can go #### itself.

I for one kind of like the only habitable planet in sight...maybe it's not the best but it's the only one we've got. Beats Mars with its crappy thin CO2 atmosphere and radiation-scorched uni-desert of superfine toxic dust, am I right?

Anyway, from what I've heard people have been DD'ing on biodegradeable oil without problems. The oil is less environmentally harmful than the traditional stuff but you shouldn't dump it in your yard due to the contaminants it will pick up, as others have stated.

GameboyRMH said:

I for one kind of like the only habitable planet in sight

hippy. 

Sorry but the suggestion that any sort of oil can be just poured into a yard is wrong.  EPA 40 CFR 112 applies to both petroleum based oils as well as vegetable based oils.  I'm not sure what brands you're looking at but most of the ones I've been able to pull up still use petroleum feed stocks, even if it is a group V oil derived from a plant based product it still should be properly disposed of.

Stampie said:

Weren't dinosaurs biodegraded into oil?

Haha technically it was the plants that lived with the dinosaurs that were mechanically and thermally converted into oil by geological processes

_ said:

I’m no hippy, the earth can go #### itself. But the idea of dumping my oil change in the backyard is somewhat enticing.

There's always gotta be a tough guy.

Light googling implies that many are manufactured from Rapeseed oils and have synthetic additives, and can be disposed of as typical oil products- nothing says you can just dump it out somewhere, though as other posters mentioned that's likely due to contaminants within your engine more than anything. Amazon has it at ~$50.00 for a 5-quart tho, so you'll have to WANT to use it. Still, sites like GETG Company who make it talk about how even a cup of motor oil can contaminate hundreds of gallons of water, so for that reason alone I might give it a shake.

EDIT:

One amazon review caught my eye:

Is it true this oil is partially made from animal products?

Answer:

Thanks for your inquiry. The Green Earth motor oil you are referring to is a full synthetic. All full synthetics have a base and the base for all but Green Earth is petroleum. The base for Green Earth is tallow and coconut oil. Tallow is a by-product of the meat industry. It is abundant and is also used in the manufacturing of candles and soap. I hope this helps.
Glenn C Johnson
Owner
AutoBeGreen LLC
603-770-2099

Knurled. said:

or you could, you know, just take it to the FLAPS, where they collect it and it gets turned into fuel oil for ocean ships.  Or any auto repair shop that has a waste-oil furnace, where it gets burned for heat.  Better to burn "waste" oil for heat than "new" hydrocarbons

GOD no. One Heavy container ship equals 50 million cars. Their "fuel" is bunker fuel- literally asphalt/petroleum runoff that is considered a massive health hazard, full of sulphates that cause childhood asthma. They are only now finally being forced to clean up.

_ said:

 I’m no hippy, the earth can go #### itself. 

http://www.classic-oils.net/Castrol-R40

dclafleur said:

Sorry but the suggestion that any sort of oil can be just poured into a yard is wrong.  EPA 40 CFR 112 applies to both petroleum based oils as well as vegetable based oils.  I'm not sure what brands you're looking at but most of the ones I've been able to pull up still use petroleum feed stocks, even if it is a group V oil derived from a plant based product it still should be properly disposed of.

Even if you "could" do that, it's still pretty wasteful.

The thing that irks me about people thinking that long OCIs "save oil" is they seem to think the oil just disappears after it is changed.  This whole concept of "biodegradable oil" seems to fit into the worldview of this flawed logic.  Used motor oil is a feedstock for other uses, and if those uses didn't have used oil, they would just use "new" petroleum instead.  

GIRTHQUAKE said:

Knurled. said:

or you could, you know, just take it to the FLAPS, where they collect it and it gets turned into fuel oil for ocean ships.  Or any auto repair shop that has a waste-oil furnace, where it gets burned for heat.  Better to burn "waste" oil for heat than "new" hydrocarbons

GOD no. One Heavy container ship equals 50 million cars. Their "fuel" is bunker fuel- literally asphalt/petroleum runoff that is considered a massive health hazard, full of sulphates that cause childhood asthma. They are only now finally being forced to clean up.

Huh.   I'm not doubting you, but what I quoted was what I was told when a local oil collector said when they explained why they could not take any oil with gasoline, kerosene, or Diesel in it.

Our waste oil furnace burns all that just fine   And every BTU that we get from waste oil is a BTU that we don't need to get from natural gas or HHO.

Christ people, chill! It was a joke. I’ve never met so many people with a stick up the ass. 

Here, I’ll help you sleep better tonight: I don’t litter. I pick up other people’s garbage, I help society, volunteer 70hrs a month, look after the elderly and disadvantaged, oh, and I don’t dump oil into the earth. 

I don’t even do drugs. (Are cars a drug?)

There. Hopefully everyone has a nice glass of warm vegan/organic/hormone free/synthetic whatever-the-hell-you-put-on-cereal-liquid now. 

Somebody rigged up a waste oil forge and posted it.

I keep meaning to look into building one.