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.

Read also: Airlines need to mix avtur with biofuel by 2016

State-owned oil and gas giant Pertamina produced BioAvtur J2.4 using a catalyst developed by the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), while state-owned aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) provided the aircraft and test site, and the energy ministry supervised the test.

Pertamina president director Nicke Widyawati said favorable downstream and upstream national policies were necessary to commercialize BioAvtur.

“Going forward, [BioAvtur] will be sold as a product – like B30 biodiesel at the moment – after it passes the testing stages and secures the permits for commercialization,” she said.

She added that Pertamina was developing a J5 BioAvtur in its Cilacap and Dumai refineries, which “would be able to produce J5 soon”.

Read also: Palm oil-based jet fuel makes late debut in Indonesia

Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartanto said that with an estimated domestic avtur consumption of 14,000 kiloliters (kL) daily, the J2.4 BioAvtur commercial market was worth around Rp 1.1 trillion (US$77.34 million) per year.

“This will encourage economic growth,” Airlangga said on Wednesday.

He added that the government already offered certain incentives, such as a super tax deduction for certain research and development programs, that could help commercialize BioAvtur J2.4.

Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) energy economist Alloysius Joko Purwanto said Indonesia currently faced both demand and supply constraints in commercializing BioAvtur.

From the demand side, realizing the Rp 1.1 trillion BioAvtur market potential required domestic air traffic to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

From the supply side, Indonesia can only produce 456,000 kL of J2.4 per year, compared to the needed 5.1 million kL, assuming that air travel recovers to pre-pandemic levels.

“The first challenge would be to revive the domestic aviation sector in the post-pandemic period,” he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (Aprobi) chairman Paulus Tjakrawan said that earning international recognition and certification would be a challenge in commercializing BioAvtur.

The European Union (EU) considers palm oil-based biodiesel unsustainable due to the palm oil industry’s track record for deforestation.

“All stakeholders need to support the government’s goal,” he said during a virtual discussion hosted by Maybank, also on Thursday.