Jakarta – Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman soft launched the use of B50 biodiesel in South Kalimantan on Sunday, harnessing Indonesia's abundance of crude palm oil (CPO).
"This is a happy day, where we directly tested B50 and the engine sounded very good and normal," Amran said, as quoted by the ministry's website on Sunday.
As part of the soft launch, Amran drove a vehicle with the B50 fuel for the past few months.
Amran emphasized that the B50 trial represents a key step toward achieving national food sufficiency and energy independence.
He added that these two ideas are crucial to Indonesia's future, as envisioned by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and president-elect Prabowo Subianto.
The trial was held at the PT Jhonlin Agro Raya biodiesel factory in Batulicin, Tanah Bumbu regency, South Kalimantan.
The B50 biodiesel term refers to a mix of 50 percent each of CPO and diesel.
Armran said that demand for palm oil-based biodiesel was expected to grow significantly, particularly for domestic consumption, as part of efforts to enhance national energy security.
The minister said that the government has been using palm oil in biodiesel programs since 2019 with the development of biodiesel prototypes using 100 percent CPO, or B100. He was also confident that various ministries, technical institutions and the biodiesel industry had their own prototypes and were conducting their own tests.
Indonesia has 16.8 million hectares of oil palm plantations with a production of 46.9 million tonnes per year, according to the ministry's Plantations Directorate General's provisional figure for 2023.
Amran highlighted that the push for renewable energy has been ongoing under Jokowi's administration, with previous implementations of B15 in 2015, B20 in 2019, B30 in 2022 and B35 in 2023.
He added that the B50 biodiesel and E10 bioethanol programs were part of the country's national energy priorities, which aim to increase the use of biofuels across the country to help reduce imports of crude oil and fuel.
The term E10 refers to a mixture of 10 percent alcohol and 90 percent gasoline.
Amran asserted that B50 biodiesel represented a significant economic opportunity.
"Today [Sunday] we have the soft launch, B50 is very important, very strategic... This is our strength," Amran said.
"The world is currently facing food and energy crises. The solutions are available in Indonesia."