Indonesia’s state-owned energy company PT Pertamina is planning to start the production of diesel and jet fuel entirely from palm oil at its Cilacap refinery by the end of this year, Reuters reported on 6 March.
The “green diesel” produced at the facility would use refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palm oil according to senior Pertamina official Ifki Sukarya.
The other product produced at the refinery – “green jet fuel” – would use RBD palm kernel oil (PKO).
Pertamina was planning to process 3,000 barrels/day of RBD palm oil to produce D100 biodiesel with the first stage due to start in December, Reuters wrote.
By December 2022, the company aimed to process 6,000 barrels/day of crude palm oil to make biodiesel or jet fuel.
The green diesel and jet fuel production capacity at the refinery, on Java island, could be increased from 2023, Sukarya said.
Trials for the biodiesel and jet fuel had started in January 2021 and December 2020 respectively, Reuters said.
Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, has a mandatory biodiesel programme with 30% palm oil content known as B30. However, the government is keen to expand the vegetable oil’s use for energy to cut down on fuel imports.
