JAKARTA (Agencies / Jakarta Post-ANN): Indonesia has successfully conducted its first test of diesel locomotives running on fuel containing 40 per cent palm oil, as part of the government's move to increase the use of palm-based biodiesel fuel in various types of transportation.
The programme, known as Biodiesel 40 (B40), tests the feasibility of a cleaner fuel composed of 40 per cent fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) derived from crude palm oil and 60 per cent of fossil fuel diesel. This blend aims to provide an alternative fuel source for vehicles.
Collaboratively run by the country's Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and state-owned railway operator PT KAI, the trial on Monday used the Bogowonto train in the trip between the Lempuyangan station in Yogyakarta and the Pasar Senen station in capital Jakarta.
In a statement published on Tuesday, the ministry's director general of new and renewable energy Eniya Listiani Dewi, said the trial aimed to test the durability of the Bogowonto train's generator set for 1,200 hours.
With an estimated duration of 22 hours per round trip from Lempuyangan to Pasar Senen, Dewi estimated that the results would be achieved in approximately two months.
"We hope that all trials can be completed this December so that the use of B40 can fully be carried out in 2025," Dewi added.
Indonesia’s biodiesel uses the highest proportion of palm oil in the world, and its B40 program aims to reduce the country’s reliance on imported diesel while ramping up demand for domestically produced vegetable oils.
The Oil Palm Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS) estimated on Jan. 31, 2023 that Rp 30.22 trillion (US$1.95 billion) would be needed to subsidize the distribution of biodiesel that year.
Eniya Listiani Dewi, the ministry’s renewables director general, said the B40 biofuel trial aimed to test the durability of the train engine and was scheduled to last 1,200 hours, or 50 days.
“Today, we held a launch ceremony for the B40 [trial] in the railway sector,” she said on Monday, as quoted by Kompas.com, adding that the trial “would be deployed continuously” until its conclusion in December.
She expressed hope that the results of the trial would green-light the biofuel’s use in trains, “because we want B40 to be used soon”.
Following last year’s successful trial of B40 in four-wheeled vehicles, the series of trials planned for this year aim to assess its use in agricultural machinery and trains.
According to Eniya, the government then plans to expand the B40 trials to test the biodiesel in heavy equipment, shipping and power plants, the latter in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, using an estimated total volume of 16 million kiloliters (kL).
“We expect the results [of the trials] for all of these sectors by December this year,” she said.
She also expressed confidence that despite the different standards and test periods for each sector, the technical instructions would be finished by the year-end toward rolling out B40 next year.
Eniya expected the mandatory B40 program to reduce annual emissions by up to 14.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in both the automotive and nonautomotive sectors, and save around US$9 billion in foreign exchange. - Agencies / Jakarta Post-ANN
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