LG / Honam Daesan Petrochemical

CHALLENGE

In 2000, HPC (Hyundai Petrochemical Corporation) sold its assets and awarded the management of its process water and potable water to Veolia Water Korea for 20 years.

LG/Honam-Daesan Petrochemical Complex was founded when Honam Petrochemical Corporation and LG Chemical Corporation acquired Hyundai Petrochemical in March 2003. Veolia Water still supplies the entire Daesan complex with R/O water, Demi water, cooling water and domestic water.

Veolia Water Korea had to upgrade its water treatment facilities in order to meet strict specifications required for chemical production and the cooling process. Both processes are of utmost importance whereby continuous service and quality must be guaranteed by Veolia Water.

This partnership enables our clients to focus on their core businesses and to transfer the reliability and risk management to Veolia Water Korea.

This is one of the largest contracts of its kind in the world.

OBJECTIVES

• Upgrading existing facilities to enhance process water quality and improve technical and economical performance through our expertise
• Meeting the quality standards of our clients for potable water, demi water and cooling water to assure the quality of the complex chemical production
• Avoiding disruptions that could lead to the malfunctioning of the entire production process by guaranteeing continuous service and constant water quality
• Optimizing the process to save costs and enhance quality

VEOLIA WATER'S SOLUTIONS

Veolia Water provides solutions to meet our client's expectations.

• Operating one of the largest Reverse Osmosis units in Asia at the site in Daesan with the capacity to produce 84,000 m³/day.
• Optimizing cost efficiency and quality by implementing an exhaustive audit and regular investigation. As a result, Veolia Water Korea has increased its plant efficiency, technical performance, and reliability achieving significant upgrades in the facility. 
• Combining the knowledge, skills, and experiences of existing staff members of the facilities and employees from Veolia Water Korea to contribute to new ideas and solutions.
• Setting monetary penalties in the event of non-compliance with the agreed quality standards as stated in the contract.

Security and reliability

One of Veolia Water's main responsibilities, apart from providing premium quality is to avoid disruptions in the water supply as it would imply the interruption of the entire chemical production process. Veolia Water uses several tools to secure its operations.

• Availability of an on-site storage pond that can provide up to 2 days worth of raw water supply in case of an emergency such as extreme pollution of raw water.
• Continuous monitoring of the quality and the process. For example, installation of an online monitoring system for the cooling tower to prevent cell failure and to maintain stable operation.
• Implementing operational risk management policy: implementation of regular and exhaustive risk assessments conducted by Veolia Water experts, in correspondence to corrective actions, staff training and to emergency situation
• Implementing Legionella audit and preventive actions to prevent hygienic issues from developing in the cooling system
• Health and safety policy: safety audits, staff training, zero accident campaign and strict operation procedures

Veolia Water's site in Daesan has received the ISO 9001 certification in 2002, and achieved the integrated management certification (ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001) in 2008.