Etanol Is Considered Not Suitable For Tropical Areas, This Is What The Director General Of EBTKE Said

Director General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE) Eniya Listiani Dewi (Photo: Maria Trisnawati/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) has opened its voice regarding public concerns about the use of 10 percent ethanol which is considered unsuitable for use in tropical climate areas.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources through the Director General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE), Eniya Listiani Dewi, said that before it is implemented, his party will conduct a trial first to ensure the safety and resilience of the E10 on vehicle engines. Later in this trial, Eniya said that his party would also test the level of corrosiveness to vehicle filters.

"We will test it. I will call the automotive industry," said Eniya to the media crew quoted on Wednesday, October 15.

In addition, Eniya also emphasized that the mandatory E10 program will be implemented in the non-Public Service Obligation (PSO) industry. According to him, non-PSO fuel users are usually vehicles that have higher specifications and output in the 2000s.

Eniya assessed that vehicles originating in the 2000s tended to be more adaptive to ethanol with a mixture of up to 20 percent so that it was safe to use with a mixture of 10 percent.

"The engine above 2000 is adaptive to bioethenol up to 20 percent. And that was non-PSO first," said Eniya.

Furthermore, Eniya also said, actually the mixing of ethanol with gasoline is much easier when compared to the onslaught of fuel. For this reason, his party will also prepare if road testing or road tests are needed for E10. However, he still believes that the input from automotive entrepreneurs related to the resilience of vehicle engines to the use of ethanol.

"Actually ethanol is easier to mix than biodiesel. We don't know (Road test) yet. We'll prepare it later," said Eniya.