VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Hazardous and Toxic waste or B3 is an environmental problem that is the focus of countries in the world, including Indonesia. From 2015 to 2019, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) recorded a significant increase in land contaminated with hazardous and toxic waste or B3. Waste cannot be separated from industrial activities; one of them is upstream oil and gas activities. In a 2015-article in the Journal of Petroleum and Environment Biotechnology, it was stated that at the oil production rate of 860 thousand barrels per day, there is an oil sludge waste of around 51 thousand cubic meters per year.

Athallah Naufal, a student of the Petroleum Engineering Study Program at Pertamina University found an effective way to treat oil sludge waste. His innovation is the manufacture of bio-surfactants from waste cooking oil. His waste treatment innovation attracted the attention of the jury and managed to win 1^st place at the prestigious Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Asia Pacific Regional Student Paper Contest. As a result, he will present the Asia-Pacific Region to compete at the SPE International Conference in Houston, October 2022.

The idea for processing oil sludge waste, According to Athallah, was obtained from observations made by several oil and gas companies. Oil sludge waste treatment is mostly done with the help of 3^rd parties. The company must accommodate the waste in the drilling area until it reaches a certain volume, then it can be handed over to the waste processor. With this innovation, the company can treat oil sludge waste on site. The handling is also quite fast. That efficiency reaches 82.7 per cent.