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Used cooking oil as feedstock makes biofuels more sustainable
As Indonesia’s biofuel program is still heavily dependent on CPO as the sole feedstock, this has exposed the program to external pressures such as fluctuating prices for CPO and other energy commodities, contributing to the increase in the cost of cooking oil for ordinary consumers.
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A CN 235-220 test plane during a ground-running test using BioAvtur J2.4 in Bandung, West Java, on Sept. 6, 2021. (Courtesy of Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry)
Indonesia’s ambitious biofuel program, which promotes the use of increasingly higher mixes of crude palm oil (CPO) with conventional diesel -- currently 30 percent (CPO/diesel) -- has become one of the key contributors to Indonesia meeting its carbon-emissions-reduction target, as well as reducing its reliance on expensive oil imports.
During a recent Group of 20 webinar, an official from Indonesia’s Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry (ESDM) stated that “biofuels are vital for the development of a green economy to achieve a just, equitable and people-centered energy transition”.
According to ESDM Indonesia produced 16.3 million kiloliters (kl) of B30-biodiesel in 2021, a significant increase from 13.3 million kl in 2020, giving the government the confidence to scale up the biofuel program and funding. The development of a pilot green-refinery program is underway in Cilacap, Central Java, with the first phase of the project aiming to produce Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) or Green Diesel, a second-generation biodiesel product from Refined, Bleached and Deodorized Palm Oil (RBDPO).
While these positive claims and developments paint a rosy picture, Indonesia still needs to overcome several challenges and close some gaps to improve the positive impact of its biofuel program, including the potential for unsustainably produced CPO feedstock to emit more CO2 compared to fossil diesel.
As Indonesia’s biofuel program is still heavily dependent on CPO as the sole feedstock, this has exposed the program to external pressures such as fluctuating prices for CPO and other energy commodities, contributing to ordinary consumers having to pay much higher prices for cooking oil. As a result, in our efforts to reduce the cost of fossil-fuel imports, we risk bearing higher costs caused by surging CPO and oil prices.
Another major concern is that should Indonesia continue its ambitious biofuel program, while still lacking any robust sustainability standards for biofuel, and continue to rely on CPO as a single feedstock, there is a high risk of increased deforestation to source the CPO needed to supply the biodiesel program. The large expansion of palm oil plantations, from 8.6 million hectares in 2006 to 15.4 million hectares in 2019, which coincided with the launch and early development of Indonesia’s biofuel program, highlights the risks of relying on a single feedstock for biodiesel.
The University of Indonesia’s Institute for Economic and Community Research (LPEM UI) 2020 analysis also concluded that the B30 program could face a CPO deficit, which could in turn trigger a further 5.2 million hectares of land clearing to grow the palm oil needed to meet the demand for biodiesel feedstock.
