Complete The Cold Startability B40 Test, Director General Of EBTKE: Ready To Use

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - After being launched by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources on July 27, 2022, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) together with the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) through funding by the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS) continues to carry out various series of fit tests of B40 (40 percent of biodiesel mixing in diesel fuel) as raw material for driving diesel engines.

As a result, during the Cold Startability test (easy vehicle lighting at low temperatures) by the Center for Oil and Gas Testing "Lemigas" and the KEBTKE Survey and Testing Center can be turned on properly where it still meets the set standard of less than 5 seconds.

"For the results as the standard for turning on the engine for a maximum of 5 seconds, and my notes were about 1 second at the earliest. This is authentic evidence that B40 is ready to be used on engines," explained Director General of New Energy, Renewable, and Energy Conservation (EBTKE) Dadan Kusdiana in an official statement quoted Saturday, October 29.

He further explained, in this test, there were 2 fuel formulas used in Road Test B40, namely the first formula, B30D10 consisting of a mixture of 30 percent Biodiesel (B100), 10 percent Diesel Nabati/HVO (D100) and 60 percent Solar Murni (B0). And the second formula B40 consisting of a mixture of 40 percent Biodiesel (B100) and 60 percent Solar Murni (B0). Procurement of Solar Murni and D100 fuel is provided by PT Pertamina (Persero) and for B100 with specific specifications provided by the Indonesian Biofuels Manufacturers Association (APROBI) as an association of BBN Business Entities Type Biodiesel.

"We choose this fuel (formula) which comes from within the country and is produced from us. For which the basis is B40 produced by the Biodiesel Aprobi, and for earlier the 10 percent mixture (Diesel Nabati / HVO) by Pertamina and now exports instead. We will use both of them," explained Dadan.

In addition to conducting cold startability tests, several tests were also carried out. One of them is testing the quality of fuel and lubricant quality which aims to ensure the quality of fuel quality before and after being mixed into the engine according to the required quality. In addition, lubricant analysis is to ensure and compare the quality of the lubricant at the beginning and the lubricant used.

The B40 biodiesel fuel road test team on diesel-engined vehicles has also completed several tests, including fuel consumption analysis, fuel quality and lubrication tests, engine performance tests, fuel storage stability tests and startability tests.

After conducting a cold startability test, the technical test team will conduct a B40 road test with a route for test vehicles with a capacity of < 3.5 tons daily distance target of 650 km/day with the Balitsa - Cileunyi - Ciamis - Kuningan - P3GL - Pemalang (backputer) - Subang -Balitsa route, with a total distance of 50,000 km.

Meanwhile, for test vehicles with a capacity of > 3.5 tons, the daily distance target is 550 km/day with the Balitsa - Pasteur - Cikampek - Cipali - P3GL - Tegal (backputer) -Cipali - Subang - Balitsa route, with a total distance of 40,000 km.

For information, at the cold startability test event were also present including the Director of Bioenergy, Head of the Lemigas Testing Center, Head of the EBTKE Survey and Testing Center, BPDP Sawit Board of Directors, Pertamina Board of Directors (Persero) with Subholding, APROBI representatives, Gaikindo as well as ATPM representatives, and academics.