The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency is promoting the recycling of certain petroleum secondary materials into fuel. This effort, which will revise the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act regulations, is expected to help petroleum refineries reduce waste and capture more energy from each barrel of oil by allowing for the recycling of these materials when they are used at a petroleum refinery for the production of synthesis gas fuel.

To qualify for the exclusion, the oil-bearing hazardous secondary materials must meet several conditions. Provided the conditions of the exclusion are met, these materials will be excluded from the regulatory definition of solid waste and can be used to produce synthesis gas.

Gasification is a highly efficient, advanced technology that is currently used to convert carbon-containing materials into synthesis gas. In petroleum refining operations, synthesis gas is used to generate hydrogen and electric power. The regulation should be published in the Federal Register in about two weeks.