Prabowo Wants RI To Produce B100 Fuel, Minister Of Energy And Mineral Resources: Laboratory Tests Need

JAKARTA - The B100 program or biodiesel fuel from 100 percent of vegetable materials as announced by the elected President of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto needs to go through laboratory tests.

"We have to do research from the laboratory and then the demonstration," said Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif quoting Antara.

He said that when Indonesia had developed the B30, B35 to B40 program which would soon be launched as an effort to realize clean energy.

"We are only from B30, B35, now we are going to B40. Hopefully next year we can go to B40," said Arifin.

Meanwhile, to increase to B100, he continued, it must also be seen from the availability of raw materials and their market potential.

"That's related to the improvements, we also see balances rather than the availability of materials and then the market," said Arifin.

But for sure, he supports various programs that aim to support the independence of the country, especially using raw materials in the country.

"Yes, indeed we have to use our own sources, the sources we have. We use them so that we don't depend and can secure domestic energy needs," said Arifin.

Quoted from the ebtke.esdm.go.id page, B100 is a term for biodiesel which is a vegetable fuel for diesel engine/motor applications in the form of fatty acid methyl (fatty acid methyl ester/FAME) made from vegetable oils or animal fats through an esterification/transferred process.

The transferred process is a process of transferring alcohol from theester, but what is used as a catalyst (a substance used to speed up the reaction rate) is alcohol or methanol.

Previously, Prabowo emphasized his commitment to bringing Indonesia to self-sufficiency in renewable energy sourced from plants such as palm oil, sugar cane to cassava that thrives in the country.

"Later, we will no longer take oil from the ground, gas from the ground runs out, as long as there is sun and as long as it rains, every year we can harvest diesel (surya), many countries are jealous of Indonesia," Prabowo said in a scientific oration during the National University of the Republic of Indonesia (UKRI) Graduation in Bandung, West Java, Thursday (29/2).

He said that in the next few years, Indonesia will be able to change all biodiesel fuel made from palm oil which aims to stop imports of fuel from abroad.

"We can already make B100, meaning bio diesel from 100 percent palm oil. Can we imagine or not? We will no longer import diesel from abroad because we have 48 million tons of palm oil production now," he said.