REGENERATION OF USED TURBINE OILS AND RECOVERY OF THEIR QUALITY PARAMETERS USING ACTIVATED BENTONITE

This article covers the problem of regeneration of turbine oils used in the power engineering. The main attention is given to the process of purification and recovery of used Shell Turbo S4 GX46 mineral oil with usage of activated Navbahor bentonite as an adsorbent. The research analyzes the factors of oil degradation during operation (oxidation, contamination, mixing with water), and also studies the adsorption properties of bentonite using SEM (scanning electron microscopy), EDS (energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) and physicochemical analysis. The results show that due to the high content of SiO₂ (58.68 %) and Al₂O₃ (15.42 %), bentonite effectively removes contaminants, and the purified oil restores its kinematic viscosity, acid number and thermal stability. Considering the forecasts of global oil consumption, the use of bentonite is recommended as an economically and environmentally effective regeneration method. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis showed an increase in components such as tetratriacontane (26.53 %) and hexatriacontane (70.56 %) in the purified oil, confirming its improved stability and anti-corrosion properties. From an economic perspective, this method is efficient and gains importance in light of global projections suggesting a 3–4 % growth in oil consumption.