Early last month, PT Resources Jaya Teknik Management Indonesia (RMI) started the operation of its subsidiary company that works on the purification of carbon dioxide (CO2).

The company takes the emissions from PT Krakatau Steel, purifies the CO2 and makes it into a commercial product.

The company is the first in the country to change CO2, which is a waste material, into an economic product, a process which can also be seen as an environmental conservation in the wake of global warming issue.

To get more insight into this clean energy business, The Jakarta Post talked to RMI president director Rohmad Hadiwijoyo. The following is an excerpt of the interview.

What drove you to get into this business?

I believe that the business strategy for the new millennium will shift to renewable and clean energy. Before many people enter and compete in the oil business, we (RMI) had worked on it.

Now, we also work on another business, which is the exploration of geothermal energy. We have operated three geothermal sites: Kemojang in Garut (West Java), Mahendong in Lampung (Sumatra) and Lumut Bale in Sulawesi.

What is the final product of this CO2 purification?

There are some derivative products from this purification process. The packaging industry and the entertainment industry need dry ice. The packaging industry needs dry ice to cool down commodities such as fish and shrimp for export.

Before we used dry ice for packaging, our industry used ice. When our shrimp was exported to Japan with ice, the ice melted before it got to Japan. The people in Japan found E. coli and the shrimp was rejected.

Meanwhile, the entertainment industry needs dry ice for music concerts.

Dry ice is also used in the production of carbonated drinks like Coca-Cola or Pepsi Cola. Coca-Cola needs around 22 tons of dry ice per day for its production.

Coca-Cola only needs to bring the citric from the United States and combine it with water and CO2 here.

If you travel by airplane, you will be served food or fruit. The airline company needs dry ice to preserve the food and fruit. I heard Singapore Airlines needs 200 tons of dry ice per month for its operations.

CO2 is also used for sugar bleaching, welding in the auto industry and also fumigation of tobacco in the cigarette industry.

People understand emission gas as a waste. How can it be made into a useful product?

The emission consists of various materials, gas and solid stuff. They include sulfur, zinc, methane, CO and CO2.

When we were at Elementary School, we studied the cycle of human respiration, which includes the role of the plantation. We learned that the plantation changes CO2 into oxygen (O2), which is needed by human beings.

In this factory process, we catch the CO2, and purify it before making it into a useful product.

Why did you think about clean energy?

I believe this is the next money machine. There are a lot of people whom are competing to get a share in the oil business. The business where I am in now, there are no competitors. I can enjoy the whole cake by myself.

How do you convince your business partners?

This is a new thing. It's true that many of them could not understand my view. Some business partners said to me, "I'll let you go. But give my money back."

It was hard for me to convince investors. I went to the Netherlands to ask Rabobank to invest in this business. But, I did not get the money. Instead, I lost money from the airfare and accommodation expenses.

I organized a seminar to introduce the public to this new opportunity. I think the Blue Energy invention (before it turned out to be a scam) should have been brought to a seminar for a public scrutiny before it was brought to the President.

Through the seminar, I tried to tell the public, particularly businesspeople, that there is an opportunity. This is to change the waste into money.

Don't you worry other businesspeople will follow you?

If other businessmen are interested in this business, I think it would benefit the environment and benefit our grandchildren as well.

I am now working on PT Krakatau Steel, which produces 40 tons of CO2 per hour. There are other industries that also produce emissions such as cement factories. We haven't worked in the cement industry yet. There are opportunities to be explored.

Is the technology for this purification process a new one?

I have known this technology since 1994. At that time, we haven't worried about the need for clean or renewable energy. The CO2 used for the process was taken directly from the natural gas. So, it was not a waste product. So, we didn't see it as an opportunity.

Today, we use CO2 from the waste product - the emissions. The technology is not much different from the past. The cost of using a natural gas was too high compared to the emissions.

People may raise this question: "How about the emission of cars and buses?"

We did some tests on the emissions of vehicles, but I think they can't be taken as raw material for this process particularly because the elements in it are not stable. For example, the CO2 from the public bus emission is only about 30 percent while the CO2 from PT Krakatau Steel emission is around 92 percent.

What is your vision on the country's energy sector?

Ideally, we have to hand down our grandchildren with clean energy. Our company also works on renewable energy. It is a blessing for us to live in the ring of fire. We have 51 spots of geothermal power across the country.

The capital needed to invest in the sector is for the drilling and the infrastructure. After all this investment, we don't need to spend more money.

Also, this geothermal energy doesn't need open space like the construction of water dam, where we have to relocate villages. For a geothermal energy site, we need to open a land site within a 5-kilometer radius.

The environment issue has become a global issue. I am disappointed that none of the three presidential candidates touch this issue. They only talk about big ideas such as a people-oriented economy. But they don't specify how to implement their programs.

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