The Jakarta Post, Wednesday, February 15, 2006
The Japanese encouraged farmers in Indonesia — at the time a Japanese colony — to grow Jatropha curcas linnaeus, locally known as jarak pagar, as an alternative fuel for its tanks and warplanes during World War II.
Not too long ago, the fruits of this plant — its leaves traditionally used to cure stomach aches in babies — was also used as a substitute for kerosene.
However, cheap and easy access to fossil fuels led to this useful plant being passed over or relegated to backyard gardens as shrubbery.
“Fossil fuels have given us a false sense of security for too long, we never considered any other fuel, because it was cheap and easily available,” Nadirman Haska, head of biotechnological research at the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), said Tuesday.
It’s a different story today. As oil reserves dwindle and prices increase, Indonesia has taken the first serious step towards commercializing biofuel with Presidential Instruction No. 1/2006 for the provision and utilization of biofuel as a fuel alternative, issued in January.
And people are finally turning their attention back to the jarak pagar as a possible fuel alternative.
The oil produced by the fruits of the jarak pagar can be used to substitute diesel fuel, or biodiesel, Nadirman said during a media trip organized by NGO Mitra Emisi Bersih (clean emission partner) to BPPT’s biotechnology workshop in Serpong.
“Jarak pagar has the advantage of being able to grow in extremely dry conditions. Even in regions with only four months of rainfall, it can prosper,” he said, comparing it to palm oil, which can only grow in specific conditions.
From the time of planting, it takes only six months until the jarak plant bears fruit, but maximum productivity is only achieved when the plant is more than six years old.
“Then it can be harvested for three or four months a year until the plant reaches the age of 20 years,” Nadirman said.
Some 2,500 jarak plants can be planted on a hectare of land, which will yield approximately 10 tons of fruits a year in favorable conditions such as in West Java, he said, explaining that each 12.5 tons of fruit can yield about 1,900 liters of oil.
“To substitute 20 percent of diesel fuel we need about 3.5 million hectares of jarak plantation,” Nadirman said.
Unfortunately, the utilization of the jarak plant is still in its early stages with the BPPT still trying to encourage farmers to plant jarak pagar and to attract the attention of the private sector.
Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but besides being used in its pure form it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend.
It can be used directly in compression ignition (diesel) engines with very little or no engine modification because biodiesel has properties similar to petroleum diesel fuels.
One of the most readily available biodiesel sources, and one that has been researched extensively at BPPT, is from palm oil.
The head of the BPPT’s engineering center, Soni Solistia Wirawan, said his office had researched the effects of a blend of up to 30 percent volume biodiesel and 70 percent petroleum diesel.
The research found substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matters — substances that cause air pollution.
“We have found that the use of palm oil biodiesel increases the cetane number meaning that ignition quality is improved,” Soni explained.
