Soeharto opens world-class lube oil recycling plant
Soeharto opens world-class lube oil recycling plant
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto inaugurated yesterday what is billed as the world's most modern and efficient lubricating oil recycling plant in Bekasi, West Java, which uses the Pennzoil technology process from the United States.
The US$84-million plant, which is owned by PT Wiraswasta Gemilang Indonesia (WGI), a private company, consists of a rerefining unit with an annual capacity of 40,000 tons of base oil and a blending unit with a 60,000-ton capacity.
"This plant will not only reduce environmental damage caused by careless disposal of used engine oil but will also greatly benefit consumers by denting the sales of fraudulent engine oil made from used lube oil," the President pointed out at the inauguration ceremony.
State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja noted at the same ceremony that if the WGI plant could operate at full capacity it could process a quarter of the 360,000 kiloliters of used engine oil accumulated annually by users.
"Before this plant came on stream, used lube oil was either disposed of directly into nature or recycled with obsolete technology which does not fulfill the requirements for environmental preservation and for technical standards," Sarwono said.
He added that the recycling plant would be able to save $100 million worth of crude oil which is imported from the Middle East to produce base oil -- the feedstock for the blending of engine oil.
"We still have to import crude oil from the Middle East because our own crude is not suitable for making lubricating oil," Sarwono added.
WGI's president Ibrahim Risyad said the plant used high vacuum and hydro-finishing technology which does not affect the environment.
WGI bought the Mohawk-CEP hydrotreating technology from Chemical Engineering Partner of the U.S.
"We produce 72 kinds of lube oil which meet the quality standards of the American Petroleum Institute," Ibrahim pointed out.
He also claimed that the WGI recycling plant is much more modern and efficient than its counterparts in the U.S. and Canada due to the high technology it applies to its rerefining and blending operations.
He said the factory requires 66,000 tons of used lube oil a year which will be bought from 4,000 individual and company collectors in Java, Sumatra, Bali and Kalimantan.
The plant, Ibrahim added, could increase its production to more than 100,000 tons a year under three working shifts.
The new facility was partly funded with loans from the Asian Development Bank, Commonwealth Development Corp., Asian Finance and Investment Corp., Banque Nationale de Paris and Lippo Bank. (vin)
Photo -- Page 9