Regarding The Content Of Etanol In Fuel Is It Safe Or Not For Machines? This Is What The Expert Says

JAKARTA Mixed ethanol in gasoline is increasingly being used as an effort to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Executive Director of the Committee for the Elimination of Filled Gasoline (KPBB) Ahmad Safrudin, explained the content of ethanol in fuel oil (BBM).

According to him, the ethanol content for vehicle engines is still quite safe. This is because the majority of car manufacturers have also anticipated this matter so that it does not have an impact on machines, especially young year vehicles.

"There is no problem with vehicle effects. Since 2006, almost all variants of vehicles have been produced by anticipating the use of biofuels, including ethanol. Before 2006, vehicle technology was still using sealant, gasket, valve which could be lumers by biofuels, so now it has been modified so it is no longer lumerized," said the man who is familiarly called Puput to VOI, Friday, October 2.

Regarding the refusal of Vivo and BP as private gas stations not to buy fuel oil (BBM) from Pertamina, according to him, because ethanol has been mixed. Therefore, it affects the processing and the selling price later.

"What is feared by private fuel producers is ethanol, because ethanol has already been blended with gasoline by private fuel producers as a base fuel, or basic ingredients for fuel production with certain specifications. The technical context of mixing fuel with certain specs with raw materials is not base fuel, it is difficult. And in terms of business, this greatly affects pricing (price)," he said.

"For the record, ethanol acts as an octane influencer on base fuel which will be mixed with certain specifications. So it is difficult to mix fuel with certain specifications if the base fuel is no longer standard, aka it has been littered by certain materials," he concluded.

It is known that the results of laboratory tests, the base fuel imported by Pertamina contains 3.5 percent ethanol and that makes Vivo and BP cancel buying. In fact, it is slightly lower than Pertamina's fuel product, namely First Green, whose level reaches 5 percent.

"Vivo canceled to continue after agreeing to (buy) 40 thousand barrels (base fuel), in the end it was no longer agreed," said Deputy President Director of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga Achmad Muchtasyar in a Hearing Meeting with Commission XII DPR RI in Jakarta, Wednesday, October 1.

However, Achmad claimed that the ethanol content was still allowed when referring to regulations. He conveyed that the ethanol content threshold according to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) is below 20 percent.