1.

0 INTRODUCTION

The characteristics and volume of wastewater discharged from food manufacturing factories
vary accordingly with the products and production procedures. Petrochemicals can be
defined as a large group of chemicals derived from petroleum and natural gas and used for a
variety of chemical purposes. Petrochemical plants are in the business of developing
substances such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, synthesis gases, chemicals such as ethylene
and its derivatives, benzene and toluene to name a few. Increasing consumption of oil in
modern society has led to more oil refinery waste generation. The oil processing wastewater
has high concentrations of aliphatic and aromatic petroleum hydrocarbons. Direct discharge
of the wastewater will affect the plants and aquatic life of a surface and ground water sources.
The biological treatment process is normally applied to reduce the effects of petrochemical
waste. Biological anaerobic, anoxic and aerobic digestion (or a combination of each other)
have been implemented to treat petrochemical waste water. Optimizing pre-treatment process
using physicochemical processes is also important for getting suitable pre-treatment
wastewater for efficient biological secondary treatment.

1.1 Overview of the Company

Lotte Chemical Titan is established in 1991. It is the first standalone producer of polyolefins
and Malaysia’s largest integrated producer of olefins and polyolefins, and of the largest
polyolefins producer in Southeast Asia. Lotte Chemical Titan produces Malaysia’s most
comprehensive portfolio of olefins and polyolefins which contribute to the enhancement of
everyday life. Lotte Chemical Titan’s production site in Malaysia consists of eleven plants,
two co-generation plants and three tank farms. They are located on two sites in Pasir Gudang
and Tanjung Langsat in the state of Johor. Underground pipelines, shared utilities and
controls enable facilities on these sites to operate as a single integrated petrochemicals
complex. Vertical integration of olefins and polyolefins production has enabled the company
to add value and realize gains along the value chain while our customers have the assurance
of consistent quality and dependable supply. This integration facilitates higher operating rates
and cushions the impact of cyclicality. In 2006, Lotte Chemical Titan acquired PT Lotte
Chemical Titan Nusantara, Indonesia’s largest polyethylene plant in the country. This
acquisition boosted the polyethylene capacity by about 80%, thus making us one of the
largest producers of polyolefin in Southeast Asia. Lotte Chemical Titan was acquired by
Lotte Chemical Corp. in 2010 and we became one of Lotte Chemical Corp.’s largest overseas
subsidiaries. Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Berhad’s (“LCT”) strategic expansion initiative
to develop an Integrated Petrochemical Facility (“IPF”) known as the Lotte
Chemical Indonesia New Ethylene Project or the Line Project, through its subsidiary, PT
Lotte Chemical Indonesia (“LCI’) is aimed to increase the company’s production capacity
and realise LCT’s vision to be a Top-Tier Petrochemical Company in Southeast Asia by
2024.

1.2 Manufacturing process

The petrochemical industry produces various kinds of chemical products such as polymers,
fibers or rubber, from such raw materials as petroleum, LPG, natural gas and other
hydrocarbons through many different production processes. Hydrocarbons, the source
material, are used to produce a variety of components including ethylene, propylene,
butadiene and pyrolysis gasoline through non-catalytic thermal decomposition reaction with
steam (steam cracking). The feedstock for process varies depending on the availability of
resources in each country. 
Oil exploration process consists of seven steps which are preparing the rig site, drilling,
cementing and testing, well completion, fracking, production and fracking fluid recycling
followed by well abandonment and land restoration.

Preparing the rig site

Aboveground infrastructure pads and access roads are built, setting up the land for the next
step.

Drilling

First the drill rig is brought to the location maybe 20 or 30 truck loads and put together. Now
time to build the infrastructure necessary to unlock the oil and natural gas trapped more than
a mile below the ground. A well is drilled straight down into the ground beneath the pad. The
first stage is to drill what is called the surface hole down to a depth of 100 feet below the
deepest known aquifer.  A steel casing is then cemented in place so there is no risk of
polluting precious water aquifers. After this the “long hole” is drilled and after reaching a
depth about 1000 feet above the underground area where oil and natural gas is trapped, the
hole is directionally steered to turn it horizontal and out maybe another mile or two in
distance following the same rock bed.
Cementing and testing

Once the target distance is reached, the drill pipe is removed and steel pipe is pushed to the
bottom. This “well casing” is cemented in place. Rigorous tests are performed to ensure the
pipe is impermeable before any production of natural gas or oil can occur.

Well completion

Before drillers can tap the oil and natural gas, a perforating gun is typically lowered into the
ground and fired into the rock layer in the deepest part of the well, creating holes that connect
the rock holding the oil and natural gas and the wellhead.

Fracking

Now that the first stage of the well is open, it’s time to unlock the oil and natural gas that has
been trapped in the rock. Using specialized instruments to monitor pressure and data from the
well in real time, fracking fluid, which is 99.5% water and sand and 0.5% chemicals, many of
which are found in everyday household products, is pumped at high pressure through the
perforating holes to create paper-thin cracks in the shale rock, freeing the oil and natural gas
trapped inside.

Production and fracking fluid recycling

Oil and natural gas flows up from the well bore and fracturing fluid is then recovered and
recycled and used in other fracking operations.

Well abandonment and land restoration

When all of the recovered oil and natural gas has been produced, Colorado law requires that
the well is permanently plugged and the land is returned to the way it was before the drilling
operations started. The land can then be used for other activities and there is no sign that a
well was once there.

Next, it will undergo crude distillation. Crude oil is made up of a mixture of hydrocarbons
and the distillation process aims to separate this crude oil into a broad categories of its
component hydrocarbons or fractions. Crude oil is first heated and then put into a distillation
column which also known as a still, where different products boil and are recovered at
different temperatures.

Then, the process will further undergoes refinery processes. Petroleum refineries change
crude oil into petroleum products for use as fuels for transportation, heating, paving roads,
and generating electricity and as feedstock for making chemicals. Refining breaks crude oil
down into its various components, which are then selectively reconfigured into new
products. Petroleum refineries are complex and expensive industrial facilities. All refineries
have three basic steps which are separation, conversion and treatment.

After that, it will undergo few unit processes to produce petrochemicals products. Chemical
plants convert oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals into chemical products.
Chemicals derived from petroleum or natural gas are known as petrochemicals which are
typically extracted during the refining process as crude oil and natural gas liquids are cracked
or distilled. Petrochemicals can be divided into two common classes: olefins (butadiene,
ethylene, and propylene) and aromatic (benzene, toluene, and xylene isomers). Oil refineries
produce olefins and aromatics by fluid catalytic cracking of petroleum fractions. Chemical
plants take natural gas liquids (ethane, propane and butane) from a gas processing plant and
use a steam cracking process to produce olefins. Aromatics are produced by catalytic
reforming of naphtha. Olefins and aromatics are the basic components for a wide range of
materials such as solvents, detergents, and adhesives. Olefins are the basis for polymers and
oligomers used in plastics, resins, fibers, elastomers, lubricants, and gels. Polymers and
plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene terephthalate,
polystyrene, and polycarbonate make up the vast majority of the chemical industry’s output
worldwide.

1.3 Products

Lotte Chemical Titan produce various products such as polyethylene, polypropylene and
derivatives of ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene and toluene.

1.3.1 Polyethylene

Polyethylene is the most widely-consumed thermoplastic in the world by volume. Lotte

Chemical Titan produce three types of polyethylene which name as HDPE, LDPE and
LLDPE where:
a) HDPE products are characterised by greater toughness and superior mechanical strength,
coupled with higher service temperature limits. HDPE is used to manufacture grocery,
merchandise and trash bags, food containers for items such as frozen desserts and margarine,
bottle caps and closures, liners for cereal and cracker boxes, plastic drink cups, dairy crates,
bread trays, pails, safety equipment such as hard hats, house wrap for insulation, bottles for
household and industrial chemicals, milk bottles, juice bottles, and large tanks for storing
liquids such as agricultural and lawn care chemicals.

b) LDPE products are easy to process and have good strength and clarity. LDPE is used to
manufacture food packaging films, plastic bottles for packaging food and personal care items,
dry cleaning bags, ice bags, pallet shrink wrap, heavy-duty bags for mulch and potting soil,
boil-in-bag bags, coatings on flexible packaging products, and coatings on paper board such
as milk cartons

c) LLDPE products offer improved strength, chemical resistance and a higher melting point,
making them suitable for high film strength applications. LLDPE is used to manufacture
garbage and lawn-leaf bags, industrial can liners, housewares, lids for coffee cans and
margarine tubs, dishpans, home plastic storage containers, kitchen trash containers, large toys
such as outdoor gym sets, drip irrigation tubing, protective coating for telephone wires and
film, shrink wrap for multi-packaging canned food, bag-in-box bags, produce bags and pallet
stretch wrap.
Lotte Chemical Titan produce high value added HDPE resins which are used in the
production of high quality films and high quality moldings and yarn with a melt index range
from 0.05 to 30 g/10min.

1.3.2 Polypropylene

Lotte Chemical Titan polypropylene plants are configured to manufacture polypropylene

homopolymer as well as polypropylene random copolymer and impact copolymer. They offer
28 grades of polypropylene comprising 12 grades of polypropylene homopolymer and 16
grades of polypropylene random and impact copolymer. LOTTE CHEMICAL TITAN is
currently producing PP products with melt flow rate (MFR) ranging from 1.7 to 60 g/10min.
Polypropylene is a versatile polyolefin that is light-weight with high optical clarity, low
moisture vapour transmission and the ability to be drawn and oriented into fibres.
Polypropylene is used to manufacture fibres for carpets, rugs and upholstery, housewares,
automotive battery cases, running boards and bumpers, grid-type flooring for sports facilities,
fishing tackle boxes, bottle caps and closures, metallised film for food packaging, high clarity
thin walled containers and hot filled containers.

1.4 Wastewater management

Lotte Chemical Titan is an ISO14000:2004 certified organization, certified since 2011. Its
environmental management system adheres to the highest standard of environmental
compliance, based on best industry practices that are stricter than acceptable standards for the
environmental pollutants discharged from the workplace. Lotte Chemical Titan conducts
voluntary surveillance activities and ongoing environmental monitoring program for ambient
air, stacks, sewage, effluent and noise. Online monitoring of boiler stacks and hazardous
waste disposal are also in place by setting up an organization in charge of environmental
matters in each workplace. To ensure the systematic control of water pollutants, Lotte
Chemical Titan operates a biological wastewater treatment plant in the workplace and is
effectively treating and controlling wastewater through regular internal monitoring as well as
external monitoring by Skim Akreditasi Makmal Malaysia (SAMM) accredited laboratory.
In addition, we implement waste water reduction initiatives and look into ways to recycle
wastewater.

Biological treatment

Biological treatment incorporates actions of different microbes to elimintae organics and

stabilise hazardous pollutants in petrochemical wastewater. Stringent environmental standars
and recycling of water for reuse have shifted focus to biological treatments because of its cost
and pollutant removal efficiency. As the nature of petrochemical wastewater is very complex,
biological treatment to remove pollutants still has challenges despite the immense potentials.
Examples of commonly applied biological processes to treat petrochemical wastewater such
as anaerobic digestion, aerobic digestion or an integration of both methods.Anaerobic
digestion which is applied by Lotte Titan Chemical as it has advantages such as it requires
less space and having a lower sludge regenration than aerobic process.
Chemical treatment

Enhancing hydrolysis by adding chemicals for removing the long-chain organics, toxic
material or suspended solids can increase the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) ratio of
the wastewater. Micro-aeration which is practiced by the company in wastewater
management.Micro-aeration breaks down high hydrocarbon content components from
wsatewater, which leads to easily biodegradable organic generation. At a dissolved oxygen
(DO) concentration from 0.2 to 0.3 mg/L, the hydrolysis of wastewater organics is enhanced.

Element Value
Wastewater volume 1000 m3/day
Biological oxygen demand (BOD) 5500 mg/L
Chemical oxygen demand (COD) 9500 mg/L
Total suspended Solid (TSS) 2200 mg/L
Sulphate 93.2 mg/L
pH 4.5

Table 1.4.1 Elements of Lotte Titan Chemical’s wastewater (Macarie et al., 1992)
PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM

Figure 2.1: Process flow diagram (PFD) of anaerobic waste water treatment in Lotte Titan Chemical