Removing motor oil stains

[Aspirin]

So my stupid neighbor spilled a whole bottle of motor oil on our drive in and i can't remove it with water and a tooth brush. Any chemical that will remove this nasty stain easily.

 

Help

[alibabba]

So my stupid neighbor spilled a whole bottle of motor oil on our drive in and i can't remove it with water and a tooth brush. Any chemical that will remove this nasty stain easily.

 

Help

Have you tried detergent and a brush?

[ag4gt]

Tri-Sodium-Phosphat (TSP)

 

Greased Lightning

 

A pressure washer

 

The sun and rain will fade it

[Aspirin]

Have you tried detergent and a brush?

 

Yes i have, it failed misserably

[Aspirin]

Tri-Sodium-Phosphat (TSP)

 

Greased Lightning

 

A pressure washer

 

The sun and rain will fade it

 

Thanks, i'll try that with TSP

[j_p]

Dish soap [for hand washing, not the machine] works on clothes.

[alibabba]

Dish soap [for hand washing, not the machine'] works on clothes.

 

That is what I meant when I suggested detergent.

 

He said it doesn't work.

 

Try squirting some gasoline on it to dilute it and wipe up as much of it as you can that way, then I still think that dish detergent applied directly to the stain and scrubbed with a brush, and flushed off with water will do the trick.

[jdurg]

You could probably take a concentrated NaOH solution and pour that over the stain and let it soak for a while. The very caustic NaOH should break down any long chain oil compounds and allow them to become water soluble. Then you just wash it all away.

[woelen]

So my stupid neighbor spilled a whole bottle of motor oil on our drive in and i can't remove it with water and a tooth brush. Any chemical that will remove this nasty stain easily.

 

Help

In fact, I am quite pessimistic about this one, especially if you have concrete bricks or tiles. These absorb some oil and it will be really hard to get it out. Using some VERY hot solution with NaOH and detergent may help a little, but for the rest you'll have to be patient and let nature do its job slowly.

 

Beware: Be very careful with hot NaOH and its solutions. That stuff is really bad for your skin and causes instant destruction of your eyes, when you get a splash in them!

[YT2095]

I concur, NaOH will turn the oil INTO SOAP! you`ll have little to no problem removing it afterwards if done properly

 

you don`t say if it was used motor oil though, because used oil is worse as it`ll contain particulate metal and its oxides, if that`s the case follow up later with muriatic acid (HCl) driveway cleaner

[woelen]

I concur' date=' NaOH will turn the oil INTO SOAP! you`ll have little to no problem removing it afterwards if done properly

 

you don`t say if it was used motor oil though, because used oil is worse as it`ll contain particulate metal and its oxides, if that`s the case follow up later with muriatic acid (HCl) driveway cleaner [/quote']

Well, I wish all of you good luck with this . I have had a similar experience some years ago, and finally after a lot of frustration I ended up buying new tiles and putting these in. I doubt that you'll ever get the tiles/bricks as nice as they were before, you'll see the ugly stain forever.

 

From a theoretical point I agree with you, but my practical experience unfortunately is completely different. Maybe, because the concrete was soaked with the stuff and unexposed oil was coming from deeper layers... maybe it was the black oxidized crud... maybe there are some metal particles in it... Anyway, it simply did not work...

[akcapr]

u could try some organic solvents, but they arent guarranteed to do it or get rid off all the components. naoh would work. dont use gasoline cuz that will just leave another stain.

[coquina]

Kitty Litter was developed from a product used in machine shops and garages called "Oil Dry".

 

Buy a big bag of the cheapest kitty litter you can find. Don't get the clumping kind. Pick a dry day and sprinkle it liberally on the spot. Use an old brush and scrub the oil dry into the stain so it will absorb the oil. If you have a shop vac, use that to get it up. If not, you'll have to resort to a broom and dustpan. If there is still oil on top of the concrete, repeat. There will probably still be a darkened area. Now you have to really apply elbow grease. You need something heavy and round - like a piece of round bar or heavy metal pipe. Use it like a rolling pin to grind the litter to a very fine powder (use a dust mask over your nose). Work the litter into the concrete and let it set awhile - this should remove almost all of the oil - you might see a faint stain. After that detergent and a scrub brush will remove the rest.

[Aspirin]

NaOH worked like a charm, all of it is gone (the oil i mean)

[jdurg]

NaOH worked like a charm, all of it is gone (the oil i mean)

 

Very nice. Who would have thought that chemistry would have a practical application to it? (I'm also assuming that the NaOH worked because the oil was freshly spilled. If the oil had time to really soak in, then you'd need to take powdered NaOH and sprinkle it over the stain, add a little water, and make sure that the area is WELL sealed off to prevent people or wildlife from severely injuring themselves. Then you'd have to neutralize the NaOH with some muriatic acid. With a fresh oil stain, the oil will not have seeped in as far and the need for anhydrous NaOH isn't really necessary. Plus, the acidity of the pavement will help neutralize any excess).

[ThermiteMan]

If the stain is on Concrete, Use HydroChloric Acid. It is a Concrete cleaner and will clean mostly all stains out of it.

 

One time i used HCl was when i was making a smoke bomb with Potassium Nitrate and Sugar and i lit it and it set off the whole supply i had. it was cool cause there was massive amounts of smoke, but there was a huge stain on my concrete. so i went in my basement got some HCl and poured it on the stain and it came right off. but this is only meant for Concrete/Cement as far as i know. Remember not to leave the HCl on the concrete to long. it will eat it up. wash excess of with water and neutralize with base.

 

I used to know a remedy for "blacktop" but i dont remember it offhand. But NaOH will work. It will work better if its hot but like they said, be careful. Caustic chemicals are very dangerous and they burn like hell.

 

The spot where you cleaned might be a little rough but the stain will come out.

[YT2095]

the difference is with concrete (largely calcium based) it`s already on the side of Alkali so the NaOH wont hurt it

 

as for Coquinas idea, Bentonite (cat liter) is ideal! for such spillage, as is washing powder (the sort for clothes) as it contains Zeolites and they break down the hydrocarbon chains (called Cracking).

[Callipygous]

where does one find NaOH? does it have a more commonly used name the average shmoe like me would have heard? if i walk into the hardware store and ask for NaOH will they have the faintest clue what im talking about?

[woelen]

where does one find NaOH? does it have a more commonly used name the average shmoe like me would have heard? if i walk into the hardware store and ask for NaOH will they have the faintest clue what im talking about?

It is used as drain cleaner. Go to the shelf holding drain cleaners and select the one which contains 98-99% NaOH (caustic soda). There are also drain cleaners based on sulphuric acid and possibly also on other stuff, so take care to select the correct one.

[EL]

There are two more good oil-and-grease-removers not mentioned in this thread.

Orange-peal-oil and acidic-aromatic-esters.

I shall leave it as a quiz to investigate the commercial or the specific chemical compositions.

All who gave advise to use NaOH were correct, and all who said acid are fantabulously WRONG.

Acid corrodes concrete.

 

As per {jdurg}'s remark, he is absolutely correct, because given enough time lipids will form epoxy polymers that are very hard to strip with anything less than conc. ammonia and hydrogen peroxide used sequentially on spot or some chlorinated paint strippers produced by industry.

 

But what puzzles me is that the OP said "Motor Oil" which is supposed to be a saturated hydrocarbon.

If that was the case really, non of the above should have worked, while carbon black powder and liquid octane should have worked adsorption miracles.

NaOH will saponify fatty acids not parafines.

This makes me wonder if the OP really knew what the stains were caused by!

[jdurg]

Lye is the more commonly known name for sodium hydroxide, in addition to caustic soda.

[jouleblu]

The simple reality is motor oil is comprised of a multitude of long organic chains. It isn't so simple as using a store purchased chemical to remove it since oil companies dispose of various of their oil and oil like organic compounds in motor oil. It is a sort of perfect dumping ground for a mix of chemicals. I know this for a fact because I was an oil and gas industry specialist for a part of my life.

 

The old mechanics method is the best. Sulfuric acid, watch and then wash down with loads of water to make sure it is diluted enough to not hurt anything. I can hear the environmentalists going nuts, but it happens all the time in the real world. We are subjected to very questionable chemicals. Sulfuric acid is a relatively as chemicals go since it emulsifies with water very nicely, and since water is a base, it doesn't take a whole lot to weaken it to the point it won't hurt animal or plant. Be careful though, sulfuric acid is a different animal than hydrochloric acid or anything in your kitchen, most soaps are alkaline, as are most drain cleaners. The few acid items in a kitchen don't even start to measure in strength to sulfuric acid from say a battery refill canister. It splashes easily so pour down bent over, buy a cheap mop to wipe over the area you wish to clean, and then dunk it in a big bucket of fresh water when finished. That will dilute it enough to rinse the first go at the surface, and keep filling the bucket and dunk the mop once each time so as to keep it getting more dilute also.

 

Leave the acid down long enough for the stains to be about 75% gone. Completely cleaning the stains will make your concrete floor so perfectly white, it will look like the day the concrete was first poured. That is like a 70 year old movie star wearing A1 white dentures. Just don't look right. But your stains will be far cleaner than you will get with any other method. If you want them completely clean, leave it down longer, but it might look bit silly.

 

That is my offering on oil stains. Please wear hand, and eye protection. And, officially, I am saying loudly that this can be dangerous, and don't recommend it. So don't blame me if you burn a finger off. It works though.