Biopellet, Alternative Utilization of Biomass

Biopellet is a type of solid fuels made from biomass waste with the size smaller than briquettes. "The process used is a compression with high temperature and pressure to make uniform products with a high production capacity," said a researcher of Surfactant & Bioenergy Research Center, Bogor Agricultural University (SBRC-IPB), Sri Windarwati in the National Seminar on Applicative Chemical Technology, Sunday (18 / 9) in Bogor. The event, entitled ‘Biofuel to Overcome Oil Scarcity’, was organized by Chemistry Student Association (IMAKAHI) of IPB and attended by more than 400 participants.

The biomass or agricultural waste of Indonesia is greatly potential, that is, accounting for 49.8 thousand MWe and only 445 MWe is exploited. The biomass that can be used as the raw material for biopellet includes palm residue, rice husks, cassava stems, corn cobs, coconut shells, peanut shells, coffee pulp, and so on. "Biopellet technology has long been introduced abroad. Biopellets were first produced in Sweden in the 80s, while in Indonesia they are only recently developed, "said Sri.

According to the expert staff of the Ministry of Research and Technology, Dr. Agus Rusiana Hotman, the petroleum production is limited, while its annual consumption increases 7 percent. "The national energy development strategy in the future is to increase the energy diversification of activities, including the potential use of biomass resources," said Dr.Agus. The development of biofuels is still not a competitive challenge compared with oil fuel as a result of the existing fuel subsidy. A possible solution is to increase efficiency in the process of producing biofuels along with the improvement of "pricing" and subsidy policies with better targets. (Mtd)