Pengerang PETRONAS Refinery Effluent Treatment Plant, Case Study Malaysia

The following chapter describes the effluent treatment plant built by VA Tech WABAG for PETRONAS as a part of the refinery and petrochemical integrated development (RAPID) project and other associated facilities at the Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) in Pengerang, Southern Johor, Malaysia. The project was developed by a joint venture of Malaysian oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) and Saudi Aramco, which is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia. The treatment facility consists of a multistage system for the handling of seven complex streams and the purification of 66 different effluents. Each stream is handled in its own treatment line, which enables efficient contaminant removal. The technologies presented are interlinked to other chapters, which thus provides more detailed explanations and hence a clearer understanding of the treatment processes. For the main stream, comprised of continuously oil-contaminated water, the treatment consists of a corrugated plate interceptor for oil removal, clarification via DAF, extensive biological treatment, and finally dual media filtration. Other oily streams such as accidentally oil and chemically contaminated water are also purified in a similar manner. In this case study, the focus is on the removal of free oil and suspended solids. The treatment of sanitary wastewater (sanitary used water) requires a final disinfection with NaClO and includes a biological treatment using extended aeration and an anoxic basin. Together with the treatment of the main streams, the handling of special refinery effluents is also described. Within this framework, the treatment of spent caustics and highly nitrogen-contaminated wastewater (highly nitrogen-contaminated used water) are explained. In the case of spent caustic, the effluent undergoes medium-pressure, wet air oxidation, and neutralization for COD and sulfide removal. Conversely, the core technology involved in the treatment of the highly nitrogen-contaminated (nitrile butadiene latex (NBL)) effluents is a Fenton’s oxidation reactor with H2O2 and FeSO4 at pH 3 together with extensive biological treatment for the removal of COD, organic contaminants, and oxidation by-products. All the treated effluents are collected in an observation pond for a quality check prior to being safely disposed into a sea outfall. Other facilities include a sludge treatment unit, a slop oil-handling system, and a volatile organic compound-handling facility, which are required for the by-products generated during the various treatment steps.