Indonesia to produce bioethanol from sugarcane and cassava

Pertamina CEO Nicke Widyawati said Indonesia's national oil and gas company plans to start producing bioethanol from sugarcane and cassava this year, after launching green hydrogen production using geothermal energy.

Indonesia chuẩn bị sản xuất cồn sinh học từ mía và sắn

Indonesia is promoting the use of bioethanol from sugarcane and cassava as fuel to cut fuel imports and carbon emissions. (Source: Jakarta Post)

Indonesia – the world’s largest user of palm oil-based biofuels – has been pushing to introduce mandatory regulations on the use of bioethanol as fuel to cut fuel imports and carbon emissions, but feedstock supply remains a hurdle.

“This year, we will launch a new product, bioethanol from sugarcane and cassava. There are many raw materials that can be used. Palm oil is used to produce biofuel, sugarcane and cassava are used to produce ethanol,” Widyawati said at a conference on June 28.

Biofuel regulations have helped Indonesia cut billions of dollars from its fuel import bill. In 2022, Pertamina announced a goal of starting a hydrogen trial this year at a geothermal plant on the island of Sumatra.

“Indonesia is fortunate to have a huge geothermal potential of around 27GW, but currently less than 10% of it is being exploited for electricity generation. Pertamina has an ambitious target of doubling or tripling its capacity in the next 5-7 years. Geothermal is not only for electricity generation but also for green hydrogen,” Ms. Widyawati stressed.

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