Les prévisions alarmistes en ressources naturelles encouragent la recherche de solutions alternatives au niveau mondial. Le recyclage devient alors un défi majeur pour la société, en particulier pour les produits dérivés du pétrole comme les huiles de transformateur. Cette étude est basée sur la recherche de nouvelles voies de revalorisation de ces huiles, par l’analyse critique du contexte concurrentiel, des segments de marché potentiels, ainsi que des propriétés physico-chimiques de ces huiles. Nous nous sommes attachés à déterminer l’adéquation des performances et caractéristiques des huiles de transformateur régénérées aux exigences propres au marché de l’usinage et de la mise en forme des métaux. L’usure des matériaux dans le cadre de la lubrification limite et au-delà, est un domaine d’étude complexe combinant la mécanique, la physique du solide, la chimie ainsi que la thermodynamique des phénomènes irréversibles. Dans le cadre de cette étude les performances d’hydrocarbures neufs, usagés (pollué par les Polychlorobiphényls) et régénérés, ayant des propriétés physico-chimiques et rhéologiques proches, sont comparés dans le cadre d’essais sclérométriques et tribométriques sur une fonte à graphite sphéroïdal, matériau de frottement largement employé dans l’industrie du transport. Une séquence de techniques d’analyse de surface est développée afin de caractériser les morphologies des surfaces et quantifier les déformations de matières résultantes du frottement. La complémentarité des essais sclérométriques et tribométriques, qui permettent d’étudier les performances des hydrocarbures dans différents états de contraintes, respectivement de compression et de cisaillement, révèlent les bonnes performances des huiles de transformateurs régénérées. En quantifiant spécifiquement les performances des huiles revalorisée à travers la détermination de paramètres tribologiques classiques, comme les taux de déformations, les coefficients de frottements ou encore les temps d’initiation au grippage. La composition finale de l’huile régénérée, à savoir la longueur des chaines hydrocarbonées, les teneurs en eau et en PCB, conditionne son comportement tribologique. Suite à ce bilan positif portant sur les performances des huiles de transformateur régénérées en usure abrasive et catastrophique, la mise en forme des métaux peut être identifiée comme une nouvelle voie de valorisation matière de ces huiles. / The alarming forecasts of natural resources encourage worldwide the search for alternative solutions. Hence recycling becomes a major challenge for society, especially for petroleum products such as transformer oils. This study is based on finding new ways of valorizing these oils, which is a complex problem that must meet the economic, political, regulatory, environmental and scientific constraints and challenges. A critical analysis of the competitive environment, of the potential market segments, as well as physic-chemical properties of these oils is the basis to determine new ways of revalorization. In this study, we attempted to determine the suitability and performance characteristics of transformer oil regenerated to the specific requirements of the machining and shaping of metals. The wear of materials under boundary lubrication and beyond this regime, is a complex area of study combining mechanics, solid state physics, chemistry and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. In this study the performance of new, used ( polluted by polychlorinated biphenyls ) and regenerated oils with close physic-chemical and rheological properties are compared in scratch test and tribometric with a ductile cast iron, which is friction material widely used in the transportation industry. A sequence of surface analysis techniques is developed to characterize the morphologies of the surfaces and quantify the resulting deformation of the friction material. The complementarity of scratch an tribometric tests for the study of the performance of hydrocarbons in different stress states, respectively compression and shear, reveals the good performances of regenerated transformer oils. This study has allowed discriminating the behavior of various origins oils under conditions of extreme friction, and specifically quantifying the performance of the regenerated oils through the determination of classical tribological parameters such as rate of deformation, friction coefficients or time to seizure. The final composition of the regenerated oils, ie the length and nature of the hydrocarbon chains, the water and PCBs content and the presence of polar molecules, determines its tribological behavior. Thus, the study showed that the performance of regenerated oils increases with the water and PCB content. Following this positive assessment on the regenerated oil performances in case of abrasive and catastrophic wear, machining and shaping of metals can be identified as a new way for regenerated transformers oils.

Transformers are electrical devices used in practice to increase or decrease voltages. Transformers are of various sizes and used mainly in power distribution. To provide cooling and insulation, transformer oils are used together with cellulose that acts as a solid insulation. The most common type of transformer oil is mineral oil and is a product derived from the refining of crude oil. Its low cost and good compatibility with cellulose are two factors that have led to its predominant position as the common transformer oil. There are also synthetic ester based transformer oils, and following an increased interest in environmentally friendly products, transformer oils made from natural esters such as sunflower, soybean and rapeseed. Mineral oil is not biodegradable and is deemed as hazardous waste. The ester based oils are biodegradable and promoted as a more environmentally friendly alternative to mineral oil. In this thesis, the possibility of re-refining used mineral transformer oil is assessed from a financial perspective in the form of a business case and an LCA study has been done to compare the environmental impacts between ester based transformer oils and mineral based transformer oil. The results from the LCA study showed that from a cradle-to-gate perspective, mineral oil has a lower environmental impact than ester-based transformer oils. The re-refining of used mineral transformer oil further reduces the environmental impact. The results from the business case showed that a small scale re-refining facility is financially feasible but highly dependent on the supply and demand of used transformer oil. It is recommended to pursue further studies before making any decision. There is lack of data regarding the re-refining market in Eastern Europe and the accuracy of the LCA study can be further improved by having emissions data from re-refining used mineral transformer oil. / Transformatorer är elektriska komponenter som tillämpas vid spänningsregleringar. Dessa transformatorer har olika storlekar och används i eldistribution. Transformatorolja tillsammans med cellulosa används som elektrisk isolering och kylning av transformatorer. Den vanligaste typen av transformatorolja är mineralolja och är en produkt som erhålls vid raffinering av råolja. Dess låga kostnad och goda kompatibilitet med cellulosa är två faktorer som har lett till dess dominerande ställning. Det finns också syntetisk esterbaserad transformatorolja och efter ett ökat intresse för miljövänliga produkter så tillverkas även transformatoroljor av naturliga estrar så som solros, soja och raps. Mineralolja är inte nedbrytbar och anses vara farligt avfall. De esterbaserade oljorna är nedbrytbara och anses vara ett mer miljövänligt alternativ till mineralolja. I denna rapport utvärderades möjligheten till att återraffinera använd mineralolja ur ett ekonomiskt perspektiv i form av en affärsplan och en LCA-studie där esterbaserad olja och mineralolja har jämförts ur ett miljöperspektiv. Resultaten från LCA-studien visade att mineralolja från ett ”cradle-to-gate” perspektiv har en lägre miljöpåverkan än esterbaserade transformatoroljor. Återraffinering av använd mineralolja minskar dess miljöpåverkan ytterligare. Resultatet från affärsplanen visade att en småskalig återraffineringsanläggning är ekonomiskt hållbar men samtidigt väldigt beroende av utbud respektive efterfrågan på använd mineralolja. Det rekommenderas att göra en djupare analys innan man fattar ett beslut. Det finns brist på information med avseende på återraffineringsmarknaden i Östeuropa. Noggrannheten på LCA-studien kan förbättras ytterligare genom att emissionsdata från en återraffineringsanläggning är tillgänglig.