Waste treatment at major oil and mining firms

Waste treatment at major oil and mining firms

Sudibyo M. Wiradji, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Waste is inseparable from industrial activities, including
those conducted by natural resource-based businesses, such as oil
and gas producers and mining companies in remote areas in
Indonesia.

Imagine what would happen to the environment and communities
in the vicinity if the huge volume of waste was not properly
managed.

Polluted waterways are a serious threat not only to the
ecosystem, but also to the livelihood of communities in the
vicinity and thus sustainable development, a major concern of the
United Nations, could be placed in great danger.

Aware of the importance of sustainable development, major
natural resource-based firms have shown a strong commitment to
managing their waste properly as part of their efforts to
preserve the environment for future generations.

French Total E&P Indonesie, for example, which operates the
Mahakam oil field in East Kalimantan province, has a strict
environmental policy, especially in regards to waste.

The water resulting from oil and gas production activities is
treated in the company's Oily Water Treatment Units (OWTU).
Produced water treated in these units is clean enough to
discharge into the sea, which is in compliance with local and
central government requirements.

Through its OWTU, the produced water has reduced oil content
at only 25 mg/l, far below the maximum allowable oil content
required by the government. "With oil content of 25 mg/l, the
water is safe for the environment," said the company's
environmental department head, Suripno.

Total's operation sites cover an area of 2,000 hectares, with
seven oil and gas fields, and 500 production wells in remote
areas in East Kalimantan, including Handil, Bekapai, Peciko,
Tambora and Tunu.

Total has introduced the Industrial Pilot of Oily Waste
Composting (IPOC), a treatment unit to process contaminated soils
and cuttings biologically by applying the windrow and biopile
method. This efficient and economical method can also be used to
treat contaminated soils resulting from accidents like oil spills
on land.

As in other companies, hazardous waste that it is unable to
treat at its own treatment plants -- such as used batteries and
expired chemicals -- is stored in the company's temporary storage
area before being sent to the authorized toxic (B3) waste
landfill facility at PT Pamunah Limbah Industri (PPLI) in
Cileungsi, West Java.

Meanwhile, Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI) boasts using
applicable, economical and environmentally friendly technology to
handle its industrial waste, especially oily waste, through
Slurry Fracture Injection (SFI) because the technology has proven
effective.

Caltex, a subsidiary of U.S.- based Chevron Texaco, operates
in Riau province, with 107 active oil fields and 6,569 production
wells. The company's operation site covers an area of 25,500
square kilometers.

With SFI technology, the oily waste is injected underground
far below the production zone. The oily water dumped underground
is safe for the environment because the characteristic of
underground water is similar to that of the waste.

"However, Caltex continuously conducts strict monitoring of
the behavior of the waste in the formation by, for instance,
using a tilt meter, to prevent any unexpected impact and to
ensure that the waste won't be detrimental to the environment,"
said Harry Bustaman, Caltex's manager for corporate
communication.

The company also uses a well to monitor the real condition of
soil water underground in a nearby waste disposal area.

Like Caltex, Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NTT), which operates a
massive gold and copper mine in Batu Hijau, Sumbawa, West Nusa
Tenggara, also has a long-term environmental monitoring program
to evaluate potential impacts of the company's operations.

Newmont uses the Sub-Sea Tailings Placement (STP) system to
dispose of its mineral waste. Based on environmental impact
assessment (AMDAL) analysis for its Batu Hijau site, the disposal
of tailings in the sea at a depth of around 3,000 meters in the
bottom of its Senunu canyon waste dumping ground does not damage
the marine ecosystem, sea habitats or marine animals.

According to one study, the system is effective because there
is little oxygen or biological activity in the deep sea and that
minimizes the impact on the environment. "If the tailings were
dumped on the land, then it would impact over 1,900 hectares of
productive jungle and agricultural land," said NTT's manager of
environmental affairs, Grantley Batterham.

To ensure that the tailings it produces are not detrimental to
the environment, marine life in particular, the company, by means
of on-shore and offshore pipelines, releases the tailings at a
depth of 112 meters at the head of the Senunu submarine dumping
site. "This is well below the biologically productive surface
waters," he said.

Based on a toxicity study by an independent party, the
tailings are nontoxic and therefore are not detrimental to marine
species, including commercial fish, he said.

The system is monitored extensively to ensure the system
functions as designed to minimize the potential for environmental
impacts outside of what was anticipated in the environmental
impact analysis.

Unlike Newmont, gold and copper producer PT Freeport
Indonesia, which operates a massive gold and copper mine in
Timika, Papua, uses rivers to transport its tailings to the
designated area in the lowlands and coastal zone, called the
Modified Ajkwa Deposition Area, which is an engineered, managed
system for the deposition and control of tailings.

Independent environmental audits of Freeport Indonesia
concluded that the company's tailings management plan represents
the best alternative, given the applicable geotechnical,
topographic, climatological, seismic and water quality
conditions, according to the company's senior manager for
corporate communication, Siddharta Moersjid.

Water in Ajkwa River, which transports the tailings from
Freeport Indonesia's mine in the highlands to the lowlands
deposition area, meets Indonesian and U.S. environmental
protection agencies' drinking water standards for dissolved
metals, he said. "However, we continually evaluate and update the
tailings management plan to minimize potential risk," he added.

Recyclable materials such as aluminum, scrap metal and used
batteries are collected and stored in a temporary storage area
for subsequent disposal in accordance with the requirements of
the Indonesian government, Siddharta said.

Under the government-approved overburden management plant,
Freeport Indonesia places waste rock or overburden in a managed
area in the Grasberg open pit.

Coal producer PT Arutmin Indonesia, which operates in three
concession areas -- in Satui, Batulicin and Senakin in South
Kalimantan -- produces waste in the form of acid water flowing
from piles of soil resulting from digging activities.

Arutmin said that to mitigate the potential environmental
impact from the mining activities on the surrounding area, the
company utilized a drainage system in which acid water is
neutralized with lime in settling ponds.

"We use about eight tons of lime per ton to neutralize the
water or minimize the level of acidity," said company spokesman
Zainuddin Lubis, adding that unless acid water was treated
properly, it would be detrimental to the environment.

Another coal producer, Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), which also
operates in East Kalimantan, has started reusing its waste as an
alternative resource. For example, the company uses used tires to
stop erosion in rehabilitated areas.