Plans by Indonesia to implement its 40% biodiesel blending (B40) programme by July 2021 are back on target, Reuters reported the country’s coordinating minister for economic affairs Airlangga Hartarto as saying on 30 July.
Indonesia has been increasing the palm oil content of its biodiesel since 2015 in an effort to reduce petroleum imports and support the domestic palm oil industry.
“I am targeting the implementation of B40 .... to be carried out by July 2021,” Hartarto was quoted as saying in a televised interview with CNBC Indonesia.
In April, the Indonesian government announced that it would be delaying the introduction of B40 due to COVID-19 and low crude oil prices. However, an improvement in crude oil prices had meant the B40 plan could go ahead, Reuters said.
Indonesia makes B30 biodiesel with a mix of 30% fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) with regular diesel, but it had faced resistance from consumers who said it was not compatible with their vehicles.
B40 would be produced using a different formulation, by combining 30% FAME and 10% palm oil-based ‘green diesel’ with conventional diesel, Hartarto said.
“This will be better because it has a higher cetane number,” Budi Santoso Syarif, deputy chief executive of Kilang Pertamina Internasional - a subsidiary of state oil firm PT Pertamina - was quoted as saying.
