Successful Trial of Processing 100% Palm Oil into Green Energi, Pertamina is Ready to Produce the first D-100 in Indonesia
Dumai, July 15, 2020 – PT Pertamina (persero) once again recorded positive achievement and strengthened their commitment of sustainable innovation by successfully producing 100% Refined, Bleached and Deodorized Palm Oil (RBDPO) which produced 1000 barrel of Green Diesel (D-100) products per day at the existing Dumai Refinery facility.
RBDPO is palm oil or CPO that has been further processed so that the sap, impurities, and odor are lost. The production trial, which was conducted on 2-9 July 2020, is the third trial after previously conducting trials of RBDPO processing through co-processing up to 7.5% and 12.5%.
This success was fully supported by the Government, which was shown by the visit of Ministry of Industry, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, to the DHDT Refinery Unit (RU) Dumai on Wednesday (7/15) while also receiving samples of D-100 products from President Director of Pertamina, Nicke Widyawati.
During his visit, the Indonesian Minister of Industry, Agus Gumiwan Kartasasmita said that this was in line with President Joko Widodo's direction to oversee the implementation of the Biofuel Program (BBN) to optimize the abundant natural resources in Indonesia, especially palm oil, thus improving the welfare of farmers.
"I want to congratulate the colleagues at Pertamina, especially at the Dumai Refinery, which has proven our capabilities. The courage taken by Pertamina is extraordinary; the process from 2019 until today is very fast. We both are working hard to improve the ability of our people, and the Government will always oversee Pertamina," he said.
On the same occasion, President Director of Pertamina, Nicke Widyawati, also expressed her appreciation for the Government's support to Pertamina in realizing the fuel products by absorbing domestic raw materials, to realize national energy security.
"Thank you to the Government and all related parties for their full support to Pertamina. From this trial, it shows that we are ready in terms of the refinery and catalyst side, now we need to think so that the economic side can also be achieved, "said Nicke.
According to Nicke, the presence of innovations that produce green energy products has answered the challenges of more environmentally friendly energy as well as the challenge of absorbing palm oil, which currently produces 42 to 46 Million Metric Tons with its absorption as FAME (Fatty Acid Methyl Ester) around 11.5%. At the same time, at the Plaju refinery, Pertamina will also build a green diesel unit with a production capacity of 20,000 barrels per day.
"This proves that Pertamina's competency and capability in particular and our people, in general, possess the ability and competitiveness in creating innovation, proving that we can produce the first renewable fuel in Indonesia, and the results are not inferior to world-class companies," she added.
The processing of RBDPO into D-100 at the Dumai refinery, she continued, can be reacted with the help of catalysts and hydrogen gas to produce Green Diesel products.
"The catalyst used is the Red and White Catalyst, which is produced by the nation's best sons and daughters at Pertamina Research and Technology Center in collaboration with the Bandung Institute of Technology," said Nicke. **