Toxicity of mineral oil , eng.

Toxicity of mineral oil

Mineral oil continues to be used in open systems, where it can leak into the surrounding environment.

Few studies exist on the subject, as the focus has been on biodegradability while the toxicity of mineral oil has not received any attention in public discussion.

Besides contaminating waterways and destroying the natural environment, mineral oil and mineral waste oil contain a great variety of toxins that accumulate in the body and have long-term impacts.

For example: 30 or 40 years ago no one could have guessed that the consumption of fish would have to be limited due to dioxin (originating from e.g., waste oil).

Now this is reality and if nothing is done, the consumption of wild fish will have to be banned completely.

Past examples of disasters that were partially caused by human activities include Black Death or bubonic plague that killed roughly one third of the World’s population in the 14th century.

The plague was able to spread because of poor hygiene, rats, and the like.

The users of mineral oil claim that the amounts are too small to have any real significance.

This is not true, as in Finland a total of roughly 300 million litres of mineral oil has leaked onto the ground from chains alone during the past fifty years. The combined effect of the small amounts should be considered also.

For example: Dioxin is formed in mineral waste oil and accumulates in the body. Having a container of mineral oil is one problem but when it is thinned, it will spread over a larger area. The more it is thinned, the larger the area that will be contaminated.

This means that the problem concerns millions of people; in the worst case scenario, the entire population of the Earth.

WHY USE BIODEGRADABLE OILS?

MINERAL OIL IS AN ESSENTIAL LUBRICANT BUT SHOULD NOT BE USED IN OPEN SYSTEMS, WHERE IT CAN LEAK ONTO THE GROUND AND WATERWAYS.

“Mineral oil” is a general term for a range of processed raw oil products. These include lubrication oils, which are a complex mixture of linear and branched paraffins, cyclic paraffins, and aromatic hydrocarbons.

There are many reasons for keeping mineral oil in closed lubrication systems so they can be properly recovered and regenerated.

In addition to their main ingredients, mineral oils also contain many impurities. These include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds such as anthracene, phenanthrene, pyrene, and triphenyl, and other impurities such as nitrosamines, chlorinated paraffins, and formaldehydes.

The most important additives include zinc dialkyldithiophosphates, potassium alkali salts and esters, magnesium, sodium, and calcium sulfonates, and tricresyl phosphate (TCP).

All of these compounds are found in mineral oil:

- Cyclic paraffin

- Diesel oil

- PAH compounds

- Anthracenes (irritate the skin and respiratory system)

- Benzo(a)pyrene

- Fluorinated anthracene

- Phenanthrene (irritant)

- Chlorinated paraffins

- Formaldehydes/formalins (can cause swelling of the throat, contraction of the airways, lung                  inflammation, and liver and kidney damage)

- Nitrosamines (carcinogenic)

- Phosphor (used as a poison)

- Sulfur

- Thiazole (inhibits fungal growth)

- Triazine

Mineral oil steams cause inflammation of the lung tissues when inhaled. Grease/oil is emulsified in the lungs and causes a rejection reaction that can in the worst cases be lethal.

Long-term exposure to mineral oil through the digestive system can lead to similar pulmonary inflammation.

In addition, oil can accumulate in various organs, including the pancreas and the lymph nodes.

Hydrocarbons are toxic to the respiratory and digestive system, the liver and other organs, and the central nervous system.

In most cases, inflammation of the lung tissue is a typical symptom of exposure to mineral oil. Some of the compounds listed also cause acute liver conditions.

Pouring mineral oil onto the ground destroys the Earth, slowly but steadily. One cubic metre of soil contains over 100,000 life forms – do you really want to poison them with mineral oil?

Did you know that one litre of mineral oil contaminates one million litres of water? Why is it that toxins that are claimed to evaporate are found in ground water? Because mould and bacteria do not destroy toxins as effectively as was once thought, and  airborne pollutants do not just disappear. They end up in the waterways and ground water.

The use of ground water is constantly increasing because surface water is already polluted. The great harm in this is that without clean water, there will be no life.

Studies show that the toxic compounds found in mineral oil cause similar symptoms in humans as the Toxit oil syndrome in Spain, where mineral oil  is believed to have contaminated food oil, causing around 600 deaths.

In Ireland, mineral oil dripped from feed drying equipment into pig feed, transferring  dioxins to humans who ate the contaminated meat. In Northern Germany, around a thousand pig, turkey and chicken farms were closed after dioxins were detected in the feed.

There are many other cases of suspected and proven contaminations caused by mineral oil. These are just a few recent examples to illustrate the seriousness of toxicity of mineral oil contamination.

Mineral oil is made even more hazardous by the dioxins and other harmful ingredients generated in it.

THE GENERATION OF DIOXINS IN WASTE OIL

The generation of dioxins is a complex process that often involves various intermediate stages. A potential energy diagram can be used to illustrate this process.

In the diagram, the potential energy of the reactants and the final products and the energy needed for the reaction are illustrated using the x-y-coordinate system.

This example shows the reaction of 2,3,7,8-TCDD, by which it decomposes into other substances. Notice the energy barrier that follows the initial energy level, which is marked in red in the diagram. This barrier denotes what is called the activation energy of the reaction, that is, the minimum amount of energy needed to initiate the reaction. Activation energy allows the atoms of the molecules to get past the repulsive forces of the electron cloud, bringing them close enough to each other to form new bonds.

In the case of dioxins, the activation energy needed for the regeneration process is high, which means that heat and/or mechanic energy (friction) is needed to start the reaction. Few dioxins are formed at low temperatures (below 700°C) without a catalyst, which lowers the activation energy needed, e.g. by altering the position of the atoms in the molecule so as to allow new bonds to form more easily. Therefore, dioxins are not normally present in oils that have not yet been used.

Waste oil, however, has been subjected to mechanic wear and high temperatures in various kinds of machinery, providing the external conditions for the generation of dioxins. Metallic surfaces on which oils are often used as lubricants may also catalyze the generation of dioxins, lowering the activation energy needed.

DIOXIN

The term “dioxin” is commonly used to refer to a group of chlorinated, persistent (i.e. slow to decompose) organic pollutants (POPs). They include PCDDs (Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins), PCDFs (Polychlorinated dibenzofurans), and PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls). In chemistry, dioxin refers to 1,4-dioxane, which is a highly flammable liquid. PCDD and PCDF compounds are not manufactured industrially, but are generated as a by-product of incomplete combustion and industrial chlorination processes.

In Finland, the main sources of dioxin include the metal industry, burning of wood in domestic households, and landfill fires. Other emission sources include the paper industry and the disposal of various types of waste and waste oil by burning. The main problems relating to dioxins in addition to toxicity include their longevity and fat solubility. The half-life of the molecules in human body varies between one year and ten year (most commonly 5-10 years depending on the source). The body is unable to process the compound effectively, and due to their fat solubility they accumulate in various organs. The slow removal of the compounds from the body and the long half-life cause the amount of dioxin compounds in the body to increase throughout the person’s life following each exposure, whether major or minor. Predators at the top of the food chain get more dioxins from their food than herbivores, which has led to reproductive problems in eagles, for example.

All dangers relating to dioxins are not yet known due to insufficient research. In humans, a severe form of acne known as chlorine acne and abnormal dental development have been directly linked to dioxin. In small children, severe long-term exposure can lead to developmental disorders and skin symptoms. High dioxin levels have also been linked to various other health problems including mood swings, diabetes, changes in leukocytes, teeth damage, endometriosis, over-representation of females in the population, lowered testosterone levels, and increased thyroid hormone levels.

BIODEGREDABLE OILS MADE OF VEGETABLE OIL ARE AN ECO-FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVE TO MINERAL OIL