REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Pertamina Group is preparing a bioethanol ecosystem to support the energy transition. The move was made to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and accelerate the use of renewable energy in Indonesia.
“The development of bioethanol has the potential to create tremendous positive impacts, from upstream to downstream,” said Pertamina New & Renewable Energy (Pertamina NRE) Risk Management Director Iin Febrian, not long ago.
Pertamina NRE was entrusted by its parent company, PT Pertamina (Persero), to develop its bioethanol business as a raw material for Pertamax Green. Iin admitted that Pertamina NRE has had a short, medium, to long term strategy starting from 2024 to 2035 in the development of bioethanol.
“As part of our short-term strategy, we have signed an agreement with PT Sinergi Gula Nusantara to build a new bioethanol plant with molasses raw materials in Glenmore, Banyuwangi, with a capacity of 30,000 kiloliters per year,” Iin added.
The national ethanol production capacity currently stands at about 180 thousand kiloliters per year, while the need for 5 percent ethanol (E5) currently stands at 1.9 million kiloliters per year and will double if E10 is applied.
In the short to long term, Pertamina NRE will still target the construction of a new bioethanol plant in the hope of reducing the gap between supply and national needs.
Land in Indonesia has the potential to be cultivated with several types of energy crops that could potentially become bioethanol feedstocks. By diversifying the types of raw materials, it is expected that it will not interfere with the national need for sugar cane for food.
Pertamina is currently conducting studies to develop several bioethanol raw materials other than sugar cane, including sorghum, nipah, and empty bunches of palm oil.
Pertamina NRE is strongly committed to developing clean energy as a form of support to the energy transition to achieve the government's aspiration of net zero emissions by 2060 at the latest. According to him, the transport sector is one of the largest contributing sectors of greenhouse gas emissions in Indonesia. Therefore, the use of environmentally friendly fuel oil becomes one of the best solutions to lower emissions.
“Indonesia has had success with B35, a palm oil-based vegetable fuel (BBN) blend, namely fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) with a content of 35 percent,” he said,
Currently, Iin continued, the government through Presidential Regulation No. 40 of 2023 on Accelerating National Sugar Self-sufficiency and Provision of Bioethanol as a Vegetable Fuel (Biofuel) encourages the development of the use of bioethanol as a blend for gasoline-type fuels.
PT Pertamina Patra Niaga has previously launched Pertamax Green 95, Pertamax fuel with a 5 percent bioethanol blend by the end of 2023. Not only supporting Indonesia's enhanced nationally determined contribution (ENDC) target, according to Iin, the development of bioethanol as BBN has the potential to create great value.
“From starting to develop raw materials such as sugar cane, corn, sorghum, and other types of crops to distributing them to the community, the development of bioethanol can create great value, one of which is to open jobs more widely,” Iin said.
Pertamina Vice President Corporate Communication Fadjar Djoko Santoso said Indonesia has great potential for the development of bioethanol so that it can become one of the renewable energy solutions. “Bioethanol is produced from organic ingredients that offer great potential for a cleaner and more sustainable energy future,” Fadjar said.
Pertamina, as a leader in the field of energy transition, is committed to supporting the Net Zero Emissions 2060 target by continuing to promote programs that directly impact the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “All of these efforts are in line with the implementation of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) across Pertamina's entire line of business and operations, ” Fadjar said.
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