The Indonesian government is planning to start 40% palm-based biodiesel (B40) road tests next month, Reuters reported a senior government official as saying.
Indonesia – the world’s largest palm oil producer – had mandated that biodiesel sold in the country should be blended with 30% palm-based biodiesel to cut its energy imports and increase palm oil consumption, the 17 January report said.
The energy ministry is planning to test two types of B40 blending, one using 30% fatty acid methyl ether (FAME) and 10% distilled palm methyl ester (DPME), and another using 30% FAME and 10% palm-based diesel known as green diesel, according to the Reuters report.
“The use of B40 must be followed by quality improvement, of both biodiesel and diesel oil,” the ministry’s director-general of renewable energy Dadan Kusdiana said.
The road test would take around five months, Kusdiana said, and the decision on mandatory B40 implementation would be taken on completion of the tests.
Initially, the government had planned to launch the B40 programme between 2021/2022, but high vegetable oil prices had made it too costly.
The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) expected B40 to be delayed beyond this year.
