Researchers from Indonesia's Institute of Sciences and South Korea's Korea International Cooperation Agency Tuesday launched a $2.2 million research project into the viability of converting palm oil residue into bioethanol.
The team plans to use a pilot plant in Jakarta to run tests in 2012, with vehicle testing of the bioethanol produced scheduled for 2014, LIPI research officer Yanni Sudayani said Tuesday.
The pilot plant is currently using cassava feedstock to produce 10 liters/day of bioethanol under a separate research project.
Oil palm residue has high cellulosic content which can be processed into liquid glucose. The liquid glucose is then fermented to produce bioethanol.
Sudayani said the team hopes to produce 150 liters of low-quality bioethanol from each metric ton of oil palm residue processed.
The project will be the first in Indonesia, which produces 15 million mt/year of crude palm oil.
The KOICA-funded research program was founded in 2007 to study the feasibility of producing ethanol from non-edible feedstock.
