JAKARTA – Deputy Minister of Agriculture (Wamentan), Sudaryono, said Indonesia has already had the technological capability to produce biodiesel 100 percent (B100) from palm oil.

“We’ve already had the technology to produce B100 from palm oil. But we won’t immediately realize it. We need to balance between the need for foods and energy,” he said in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, on Wednesday (21/8/2024).

The deputy minister pointed out that for the time being, the government has to prioritize a balance between the need of palm oil for trading and for food supply. “Our main priority is to keep fulfilling the need for foods before fully turning to the production of energy,” he said.

To ensure the supply of palm oil for the production of foods, including cooking oil, and bioenergy, he underlined the importance of increasing the production of Indonesia’s oil palm plantations. “For that purpose, we need to increase the productivity of our palm plantations by planting quality seedlings, implementing the good practices of oil palm cultivation, and using sensor data in cultivation,” he said.

He added that currently, the government is implementing the mandatory program of 35, which is a blending of 65 percent fossil diesel fuel and 35 percent fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) from crude palm oil (CPO). “It will be gradually upgraded to B40 and then B50,” he said.

According to him, Indonesia has a big potential to develop the bioenergy industry based on palm oil as it is the world’s largest producer of palm oil with around 60 percent market share at the global palm oil market. “But a number of countries, especially those in EU (European Union), rejected the palm oil due to environmental reasons,” he said.

Meanwhile, there has been an ongoing global energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. The palm oil can be used as the raw material to produce the ecofriendly biodiesel to support the energy transition. “We’ll keep developing the bioenergy and gradually upgrade from the current B35 to B50,” he said. (*)

Source: news.majalahhortus.com