The air transportation sector currently contributes two percent of the global carbon dioxide, emissions which lead to global warming, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said in a written statement released Wednesday.
"We realize that the development of bioavtur fuel is a strategic issue not only at a national level but also at a global level,” he said.
He said Indonesia has successfully conducted a trial test for palm oil-based jet fuel called Bioavtur J2.4 produced by state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina’s refinery in Cilacap, Central Java.
Bioavtur J2.4 contains 2.4-percent biofuel made of palm kernel produced through catalyst technology. The bioavtur J2.4 trial run was conducted on a CN235 plane that flew from Bandung to Jakarta.
The trial test may offer a positive momentum for Indonesia to accomplish a bioavtur trial run on a civilian aircraft immediately, he said.
The production of renewable energy may add to Indonesia’s concrete contribution to reducing carbon emissions and preventing climate change as a result of aviation activities, he said.
The bioavtur J2.4 has gone through a long process until it can be used as jet fuel, he said.
The Catalyst Engineering Center at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) started the laboratory-scale boavtur co-processing activity using refined bleached degummed palm kernel RBDPKO) with the Red and White catalyst.
An industry-scale co-processing production trial was later conducted at Refinery Unit IV of PT Pertamina in Cilacap to produce J2.0 in 2020 and J2.4 in early 2021.
A series of bioavtur J2.4 technical trial runs have been conducted since last month.
The trial run results show that J2.4 meets avtur fuel specifications under the decision of the Director-General of Oil and Gas at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry No. 35 of 2021. Specifically, J2.4 can replace pure avtur fuel.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif said the successful trial run serves as a milestone in using palm kernel blended avtur fuel.
"The success will be the first stage of bioavtur fuel’s contribution in the air transportation sector to increase national energy resilience and security,” he said.
Under the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister’s Regulation No. 12/2015, the government has stated compulsory use of 3 percent-biofuel for avtur fuel by 2020 and 5 percent biofuel for avtur fuel by 2025.
