MIND ID Focuses On Developing The Electric Vehicle Ecosystem, What Will Happen To Coal Gasification?

JAKARTA - Director of Portfolio and Business Development MIND ID Dilo Seno Widagdo revealed the new direction for the downstream policy of Indonesian mineral.

This includes the fate of the continuation of the coal gasification project to Dymethil Ether (DME) carried out by PT Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA).

In the future, continued Dilo, MIND ID's policy will be directed to the electric vehicle or EV battery ecosystem which will be realized in 2028.

Director of Portfolio and Business Development MIND ID Dilo Seno Widagdo revealed that the new downstream direction is to process coal into anode which is a component of EV batteries.

"We have a downstream program for coal but not in the context of DME. We are not going that way but to support the electric vehicle battery ecosystem," said Dilo at the 'Mining Industry as the Driver of Downstream Towards Golden Indonesia' in Jakarta, Tuesday, October 15.

Just so you know, the coal gasification project in the DME is planned to be carried out by PTBA, but it is not yet running because it is still looking for a new partner after the departure of the US company, Air Product from this project.

"The battery has anode and cathode, the anode is carbon. The carbon all over the world today uses graphite. PTBA and BRIN can already make synthetic carbon using coal," he said.

Furthermore, Dilo explained, in the coal conversion stage to DME, coal produces methane or C1H4 which has the same content as natural gas.

However, in its calculations, the economy of DME is considered more expensive than natural gas.

"If it's more expensive, why do we continue to get there (DME)," said Dilo.