Katalis, Inovasi Pengganti BBM (Pertalite, Pertamax, Avtur dan Diesel) dari Minyak Sawit
Jakarta – Setiap hari, Indonesia mengimpor 400 juta barel bahan bakar minyak (BBM) guna memenuhi kebutuhan minyak nasional. Karena itu, energi alternatif terus diupayakan untuk menghapus, atau paling tidak, meminimalisasi ketergantungan tersebut.
Adalah katalis, inovasi dari Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) ini digadang-gadang mampu menggantikan BBM yang selama ini bersumber dari fosil.
Cara kerjanya, katalis mengonversi minyak kelapa sawit menjadi sejumlah produk BBM, antara lain Pertamax, Pertalite, Avtur, hingga Diesel.
“(Katalis) ternyata menghasilkan gasoline yang lebih baik dari fosil. Contoh, oktan fosil biasanya 92 sampai 98, yang 98 itu Pertamax. Tapi ini, dengan menggunakan katalis, oktannya sampai 110,” terang Menteri Riset, Teknologi, dan Pendidikan Tinggi (Menristekdikti) Mohamad Nasir, pada Selasa (30/10) di Jakarta kepada awak media.
Tak hanya itu, lanjut Nasir, diesel yang dihasilkan dari katalis juga memiliki setana yang jauh lebih baik. Jika diesel fosil memiliki setana 40 hingga 47, diesel katalis sampai 60. Sehingga pembakarannya sempurna.
“Untuk avtur, fosil memiliki tingkat beku minus 37 sampai minus 47. Kalau greenavtur dari katalis, bisa mencapai minus 60,” ujarnya.
Menristekdikti menyebut katalis kini sudah mulai diuji coba oleh Pertamina, di antaranya Pertamina Cilacap dan Pertamina Dumai. Dalam jangka pendek, kedua pertama tersebut akan berkonsentrasi pada produksi gasolin dan diesel.
“Kalau bisa full dari kelapa sawit ini, saya yakin kita akan berhenti impor,” tandasnya.
source: jurnas.com
European Union is at a Great Loss if They Boycott Palm Oil
“If the EU limits or boycotts palm oil, the EU loses at least 8 billion Euros per year and encourages deforestation of about 14 million hectares in South America”
EU countries in recent years have intensively attacked palm oil in various ways. Some countries such as France have openly planned to boycott the palm oil by charging unreasonable import tariffs. Many countries also secretly support the movement of palm oil free labeling. In fact, many are donating anti-oil palm organizations operating in Indonesia. It seems that the anti-Indonesian NGOs have succeeded in deceiving the public and the EU government.
However, not everyone in the EU is like that. There are still many realistic people, especially the intellectuals and statesmen. This rational and realistic group has data, or has seen comprehensively how the reality of oil palm plantations is. They even understand the benefits of palm oil import for the EU and the consequences if the EU limits, let alone, boycotts palm oil for the EU itself.
The EU imports more than 6 million tons of palm oil annually. According to a European Economic (2014) study, palm oil coming into the EU is about 60 percent used for food, cosmetic / pharmaceutical ingredients, oleochemical industry; and 40 percent for energy (biodiesel and power generation).
From the economic point of view, EU palm oil imports annually create the “economy cakes” for EU governments and their communities. The “economic cake” in the form of community income (GDP) is about 5.7 billion euro, the EU government receives tax income of about 2.6 billion euro and employs the EU population of 117 thousand people. The five largest EU countries enjoy the “economic cake” of imported palm oil are Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland and France.
Well, if the EU government limits or even boycotts the import of palm oil to the EU, then the “economic cake” created by palm oil will be reduced or even lost. EU community revenues involved in the palm oil economy in the EU will be lost, government’s revenue is reduced, unemployment will increase and there will be energy shortage in the EU.
The problem does not stop there. If 6 million tons of CPO does not enter the EU, then the production of rapeseed oil or sunflower seed oil should be increased to compensate the shortage. The area of rapeseed and sunflower plantations in the EU should be expanded for about 14 million hectares. Then other agricultural areas should be converted into vegetable oil plantations. If this is the case, then the EU community will be faced with food shortages or inflation, or the expansion of new agricultural land; that translates into massive deforestation in the EU.
Perhaps the EU government thinks like an EU football management that imports many footballers from South America. The replacement of CPO imports is covered with larger imports of soybean oil from Brazil, Argentina, and other countries. Of course it’s fine. But with the increased imports of soybeans from South America will boost up deforestation of at least 14 million hectares of land for additional soybean plantation expansion.
EU society doesn’t seem to have so many choices to maintain its prosperity. Unfortunately, the most efficient supply of vegetable oil comes from palm oil. The paradigm of the EU community and its government may need to change to see palm oil in a different perspective. The people and government of the EU need a new way of looking at palm oil as oil palm plantation is God’s gift to EU welfare through Indonesia.
Source: indonesiakita.or.id
Multi Manfaat dari Perluasan Mandatori Biodiesel
Pemerintah terhitung sejak tanggal 1 September 2018 mengambil langkah strategis melalui perluasan mandatori biodiesel yakni pencampuran wajib 20 persen biodiesel sawit pada konsumsi seluruh jenis solar/diesel di Indonesia baik PSO maupun non PSO. Kebijakan tersebut melanjutkan B20 sektor PSO yang sudah dimulai sejak tahun 2016 lalu. Dengan perluasan B20 tersebut maka semua jenis bahan bakar diesel harus mengandung 20 persen biodiesel sawit.
Kebijakan perluasan B20 tersebut dinilai sangat strategis dan memberi berbagai manfaat baik manfaat ekonomi, sosial maupun lingkungan. Dari segi ekonomi, pencampuran biodiesel sawit dalam konsumsi solar nasional berdampak langsung pada pengurangan impor solar. Tahun 2018 ini konsumsi total solar/diesel di Indonesia mencapai sekitar 38 juta k.l sehingga dengan mencampur 20 persen biodisel kita menghemat impor solar sebesar 7.6 juta k.l per tahun. Dengan harga diesel rata-rata dunia USD 1.4 per liter, maka penghematan devisa impor solar bisa mencapai USD 10.6 milyar per tahun. Jelas devisa sebesar ini dapat memperbaiki neraca perdagangan migas nasional yang selalu defisit.
Pencampuran solar impor dengan biodiesel sawit domestik merupakan suatu kebijakan subsitusi impor energi untuk memperkuat ketahanan energi nasional. Penggunaan biodiesel sawit yang bersifat dapat diperbaharui (renewable energy) sebagai pengganti energi diesel yang tidak dapat diperbaharui (non renewable energy) merupakan langkah tepat untuk membangun ketahanan energi nasional yang berkelanjutan.
Kebijakan subsitusi solar impor dengan biodiesel sawit juga memperkuat basis pasar minyak sawit domestik. Sebagai produsen minyak sawit terbesar dunia, basis pasar minyak sawit domestik perlu ditumbuhkan secara berkesinambungan agar Indonesia dapat menjadi pemimpin pasar minyak sawit dunia dan tidak tergantung pada pasar negara tertentu.
Dari sisi sosial, bahan baku biodiesel sawit yakni CPO dihasilkan oleh kebun sawit pada 200 kabupaten pelosok di Indonesia, dimana sekitar 42 persen adalah sawit rakyat. Berbagai riset membuktikan bahwa perkebunan sawit berperan penting bagi pertumbuhan ekonomi daerah, penciptaan lapangan kerja, peningkatan pendapatan dan pengurangan kemiskinan. Peningkatan penggunaan minyak sawit sebagai bahan bakar (biodiesel) akan menggerek harga TBS petani sawit pada 200 kabupaten sentra sawit sehingga meningkatkan gairah petani untuk meningkatkan produktivitas serta juga akan memperbesar peranan sosial ekonomi tersebut.
Manfaat yang tak kalah pentingnya adalah perluasan B20 tersebut juga menghasilkan manfaat jasa lingkungan berupa pengurangan emisi karbon nasional. Sebagiamana diketahui bahwa subsitusi solar dengan biodiesel sawit akan mengurangi 60 persen emisi mesin-mesin diesel. Perluasan B20 akan mengurangi emisi karbon nasional sebesar 11.4 juta ton per tahun.
Banyak manfaat yang dinikmati Indonesia dengan perluasan B20 tersebut. Oleh karena itu, perluasan B20 tersebut perlu didukung semua pihak untuk memastikan keberhasilannya.
sumber: sawit.org.id
Demanding HCS And HCV in Palm Plantation Area is Misadressed
Indonesia is not Europe nor the United States. In European countries and North America, at the beginning of its development has cleared its forests, both protected forest and conservation forest, including its inhabitants. There is no more remaining primary forest, or sub-tropical animals these days. Although it is not possible to restore what has been damaged in the past, the current generation of Europe and North America, is rebuilding its forests including their High Concrete Value (HCV) and High Carbon Stock (HCS) areas. If current countries of Europe and North America claimed that they have forests, these are secondary forests, abandoned ex-agricultural land (Soemarwoto, 1992).
What about Indonesia? Although still struggling in developing the economy, since the beginning of its establishment, Indonesia has classified which forest are able to convert (deforestable) and the ones that should be preserved (non-deforestable) in which HCV and HCS exist. The forests in which HCS and HCV are, in the Forestry Act No.41 / 1999 are known as protected forests and conservation forests, which in the National Tataruang Law (Law 26/2007) are called the Protected Areas.
According to Forestry Statistics (2013) the area of protected forest is 30.39 million hectares and the area of conservation forest is about 22.06 million hectares. The details include the Nature Reserve (3.9 million hectares), the Wildlife Reserve (5.2 million hectares), the National Park (12.3 million hectares), the Nature Park, the People’s Forest Park and the Hunting Park (0.83 million hectares).
These forests are primary forests, original and protected, and should not be converted to other uses. In protected forests and conservation are the “homes” of biodiversity such as wildlife, plant and microbial variety, water system functions, and overall ecosystem conservation. In Indonesia, the conservation of HCV, HCS and biodiversity already exist in protected forests and conservation forests. Forests that may be converted for development purposes are production forests, especially convertible forests with certain procedures and are regulated in the forestry laws. Production forests are known as land banks; that are used as land stocks to meet development and occupational needs such as urban areas, housing, industries, agriculture, plantations, etc., which are referred in the spatial law as ‘cultivation areas’.
The process of converting production forest into a cultivation area by the Government is basically only the needs of development / population. The Forestry Law mandates that conversion of production forests to cultivation areas is not based on the carbon stock value, just like demanded by NGOs. As long as it really is the production forest, with any kind of carbon stock, can be converted into a cultivated area. Likewise, if they are conservation and protection forests, no matter how small the carbon stock exists, they can not be converted into cultivation area.
Therefore, it is wrongly addressed if Western countries including NGOs demand the conservation of HCV, HCS or biodiversity in palm plantations with permits or in the cultivation area in general. The irrational demands of these NGOs are just as irrational as if we demanded the economic function of protected / conservation forests. Each forest has a different role and function in the harmony of national space.
source: indonesiakita.or.id
Utilizing Oil Palm Waste, ITB’s Lecturers Successfully Create Supercapacitor for Electric Car
Indonesia is the largest palm oil producer in the world with an area of 11 million hectares. Not surprisingly, Indonesia is one of the world’s largest palm oil exporting countries. With this fantastic amount of palm oil production, the palm oil biorefinery industry in Indonesia has become very important and has experienced rapid growth. But on the other hand, this has become a biomass trade-off, because the waste generated from the palm oil production process has also increased in terms of quantity. This is the background of the ITB researchers team, consisting of Dr. Tirto Prakoso ST, M.Eng., Dr.Ir. Isdiriayani, Hary Devianto ST, M.Eng., Ph.D., And Dr.Eng. Pramujo Widiatmoko ST, MT to utilize the palm oil waste.
Oil palm plantation are rich in carbon elements which are the result of atmospheric CO2 fixation. The main product of processing of palm fruit bunches is known as Crude Palm Oil (CPO). While the remaining products are empty fruit bunches (EFB), fiber and shells, as well as the kernel core (kernel) mostly end up being waste. “Is not waste, but other biomass products,” said Tirto when referring to the remaining products of the palm oil industry. The high hemicellulose, lignin and cellulose content of those biomass residues allows the extraction of the elemental carbon within it. The best option is to process it into nanocarbons so that it can be used to make supercapacitors for electric cars. So far commercial supercapacitors that have been spreaded on market, still using the base of precious metals so the price is high.
The extraction process begins by destroying the biomass then the hydrothermal carbonization process is carried out using ZnCl2 as an activator. After removing unwanted metal minerals (ash) two types of products will be found, namely bio-char and bio-oil. Some special treatment is needed until eventually it will be found graphene, activated carbon, and carbon nanotubes (CNT). Activated carbon is used as material to support the layer while graphene and Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) which have high electron transfer capability are used as materials added above the support layer. Supercapacitors with a capacity of 3 farads per gram have been successfully made in the first research project.
The yield obtained from dry biomass for this supercapacitor reaches 70 percent. With these satisfying results, the ITB researchers are seeking patent claims for their invention. In the future, this project will be focused on pursuing quantity because the supercapacitor used in the electric car is quite large based on the value of the farad needed. The added value which reaches 500 times compare to the initial value of the residual biomass of these palm oil industry to become a supercapacitor electrode is a promising business for the electronic component industry in Indonesia. Not even limited to be used for the electric car supercapacitors, in the future the researcher team of ITB’s lecturers hope that the solar cell industry and car window coating to be able to produce electricity which developed by the same technology.
source: www.itb.ac.id
