Supporting The Mobility Of Rural Citizens, Itera Creates Palm Oil Powered Cars

Itera builds a palm oil-powered pick-up car. (photo: doc. Itera)

JAKARTA – Indonesia continues to develop technologies related to palm oil. Recently, the Sumatran Institute of Technology (Itera) has launched a village car fueled by pure palm oil, which is called the Combustion Engine Palm Oil Vehicle (CEPOV) Itera-1. This is expected to answer the need for environmentally friendly rural transportation,

"CEPOV Itera-1 made by a team of lecturers and students of the mechanical engineering study program by utilizing vegetable oil as a fuel to replace fossil fuels," said Itera Chancellor Prof. Dr.-ing. Mitra Djamal IPU, in South Lampung, Lampung, Saturday, March 26.

Djamal said the CEPOV Itera-1, which was assembled since November 2021, was designed according to the needs of village community activities as a tough car to transport crops. This vehicle is expected to be able to help farmers in the future.

He mentioned that the pickup truck with a modified 7.5 hp diesel motor is capable of operating at speeds between 20-50 km/hour.

"In Sumatra this is the basis of rural farming communities, so this car is made so that their mobility is higher because they no longer need to go outside to look for gasoline or diesel, because some of the palm oil produced can be used for fuel," he said.

He said that in the future Itera will perfect this vehicle by collaborating with local governments or industry parties to develop the CEPOV-Itera-1.

"This is just the initial stage. In the future, we will try to work together with industry to develop it and market it to villages at an affordable price," he said.

The Chairman of the CEPOV Itera-1 Manufacturing Team, Rico Aditia Prahmana, M.Sc., said that this car has the privilege of using pure palm oil as fuel.

"Based on the results of the ITERA Energy Conversion Laboratory test, the CEPOV ITERA-1 car can cover a distance of 10 km in every 1 liter of pure palm oil used," he said.

In the production process, pure palm oil which is used as fuel does not have to go through conversion into biodiesel, so it can save production costs.

The manufacture of pure palm oil fuel is carried out through a palm seed pressing process and purification in the form of a degumming process to remove phospholipid gum and other substances carried during pressing. Based on treatment in the laboratory, 1 liter of crude palm oil or CPO can produce as much as 800 ml or 80 percent of pure palm oil or PPO.

"Currently, the CEPOV ITERA-1, which has completed the first stage of production or full mechanic, will continue to be refined, so that it can truly become an environmentally friendly village car and according to needs," he said, as quoted by Antara.