Sullivan County Recycles Motor Oil Into Heat

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – The 7½ gallons of oil taken from a bulldozer during an oil change will soon be used for six hours of heat in the garage it sits inside.

Sullivan County Highway Commissioner Allen Pope said the county will use a $79,000 grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to purchase four waste oil heaters and related accessories.

The devices – which weigh about 400 pounds and can produce 175,000 British Thermal Units (BTUs) of heat per hour – will be fueled by used oil taken from county vehicles.

"This is the EPA’s preferred method of disposing of waste oil," Pope said Tuesday, adding that the highway department alone produces 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of waste oil each year. "These furnaces will burn waste oil. They’ll burn hydraulic fluid and old diesel fuel."

Pope said two heaters will go to the Highway Department for use at its Blountville and Hickory Tree facilities. The county Sheriff’s Office and maintenance department will also get an oil-fired heater.

Money for the furnaces comes from TDEC’s Used Oil Grant program, which gives money to Tennessee cities, counties and the state’s 1,000 privately run used oil collection sites.

TDEC official Paula Mitchell said the grant program has been in effect since 1993 when the state passed its Used Oil Collection Act, a law making it illegal for people to dump used oil where it may harm the environment.

Mitchell said the grants are used to help promote recycling of used oil, as well as equipment needed for its proper collection and storage. She said the state hands out about $500,000 worth of the grants each year.

"Heaters are very popular," she said, adding a number of localities that purchased the heaters in the past are now seeking money to upgrade their old equipment.

Pope purchased a used oil heater while working with the Elizabethton city government in 1995. He said it was the second time a city used one of the state’s used oil grants to buy a heater.

The devices are extremely efficient and come in several sizes and shapes, he said. "They’re not that expensive," Pope said, adding the ones he wants to use for the county cost $8,000 to $10,000 each. "You can even get a duct kit for them if you want to put it in a house."

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