APROBI chairman Paulus Tjakrawan said in Jakarta that the association had begun the trial of B30 biofuel with the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, state energy holding company Pertamina, the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology, the Association of Indonesian Automotive Manufacturers and the Bandung Institute of Technology.

"We expect the B30 trial to be completed in October," he said as quoted by Antara.

So far, 40,000 kilometers test drives have been carried out to ensure biofuel does not affect the engines of vehicles.

The trial also tested biofuel's emissions and efficiency as compared to fossil fuels.

Paulus expressed hope that after the trial was completed, the widespread use of B30 could be implemented in 2020. B30 has been used to fuel power plants since January 2016.

"Sixty percent of the biodiesel would be used for transportation, while the remainder is for heavy equipment, plants and other industrial uses," he said.

In September 2018, the government issued a policy to begin the widespread use of 20 percent biodiesel (B20) and soon after campaigned for the use of B30 to boost domestic consumption of crude palm oil (CPO), given the campaign against the commodity from the European Union.

By using B30, Paulus said domestic use of CPO could reach 7.8 million tons. As for B20, domestic use is expected to reach 5.4 million tons.

The Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association recorded that the use of CPO in biodiesel stood at 1.2 million tons in the first two months of this year. (ars)