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After 130 km flight test, BioAvtur progresses to pre-commercial stage
A CN 235-220 aircraft, running on the palm oil-based biofuel, flew for one hour and 20 minutes at up to 16,000 feet above sea level.
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A CN 235-220 test plane takes off powered by BioAvtur J2.4, a palm oil-mixed aviation fuel, in Bandung, West Java, on Sept. 9. (Courtesy of Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry)
R
egulators and businesses have shifted their focus toward planning the commercialization of BioAvtur after they completed on Wednesday a 130-kilometer flight test using the homegrown palm oil-based aviation fuel.
The stakeholders flew an aircraft using a 2.4 percent BioAvtur-mixed fuel – called BioAvtur J2.4 – from the Husein Sastranegara Airport in West Java to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif, speaking on Wednesday, called on stakeholders to continue cooperating in upcoming tests and in compiling a BioAvtur commercialization road map.
“Research and development will continue so that we can produce a J100 and so BioAvtur can be used by all Indonesian airlines, even international airlines,” said Arifin.
Business players and an economist separately said favorable policies, international recognition and recovered air traffic volumes were key to commercializing BioAvtur.
The government has big hopes that commercializing BioAvtur, among other palm-oil-based biofuels, would raise domestic palm oil consumption, reduce the country’s reliance on imported oils and cut national carbon emissions.
Indonesia is meant to start using avtur containing 2 percent biofuel in 2016 and 3 percent last year under Energy and Mineral Resources Ministerial Regulation No. 12/2015 but failed to do so for technical and economic reasons.
