Singapore-based Mother Earth Plantations Pte. Ltd., through its Indonesian subsidiary PT Buana Ibunda, will invest $100 million to develop jatropha plantations and a refinery in West Timor, East Nusa Tenggara Province, which it says will be able to produce up to 21 million barrels of biodiesel a year by 2013.
Speaking on Tuesday on the sidelines of the 5th World Islamic Economic Forum in Jakarta, Roland A. Jansen, Mother Earth’s president, said the investment would take place over four years, and include the construction of a refinery with a processing capacity of 100,000 tons of jatropha seeds per annum by the end of this year.
Jansen said the company would eventually be able to produce some 3 million tons of Jatropha curcas seeds on the marginal land in Kupang that is to be planted as part of the project.
Jatropha curcas, known locally as jarak pagar , is an inedible oil crop primarily used to produce biodiesel. It is estimated that Indonesia has the capacity to produce 2.9 million kiloliters of biodiesel a year and 215,000 kiloliters of bioethanol per year.
However, Paulus Tjakrawan, the secretary-general of the Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association, or Aprobi, said he was no longer so sure about the potential of jatropha-based biofuel, saying it was now unattractive to buyers. Biofuel producers have repeatedly complained that they suffer losses of an average of Rp 610 a liter on sales of biodiesel and bioethanol to Pertamina as the prices are set based on the crude oil price, which collapsed last year.
The government started pushing jatropha oil as an alternative energy source four years ago, with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issuing a decree on the subject in 2006. Under the scheme, three state firms were to buy the jatropha seeds for processing from farmers, who were encouraged to set aside vast areas for growing the feedstock. But the companies never did make the anticipated purchases, mainly because they had their own jatropha plantations, the output of which already exceeded the production capacity of the existing refineries. The jatropha project has now ground to a halt, although the government has yet to admit as much.
The energy mix is currently dominated by petroleum, accounting for 51.6 percent of the energy consumed in Indonesia. This information from here
Monday, March 16, 2009
Singapore Firm to Put $100m Into Jatropha
Thursday, March 12, 2009
What is Ethanol?
Ethanol is a clean-burning, high-octane motor fuel that is produced from renewable sources. At its most basic, ethanol is grain alcohol, produced from crops such as corn. Because it is domestically produced, ethanol helps reduce America's dependence upon foreign sources of energy.
Unblended 100% ethanol is not used as a motor fuel; instead, a percentage of ethanol is combined with unleaded gasoline. The most common blends are:
E10 - 10% ethanol and 90% unleaded gasoline
E10 is approved for use in any make or model of vehicle sold in the U.S. Many automakers recommend its use because of its high performance, clean-burning characteristics. Today about 70% of America's gasoline contained some ethanol, most as this E10 blend.
E85 - 85% ethanol and 15% unleaded gasoline
E85 is an alternative fuel for use in flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs). There are currently more than 6 million FFVs on America's roads today, and automakers are rolling out more each year. In conjunction with more flexible fuel vehicles, more E85 pumps are being installed across the country. When E85 is not avaialble, these FFVs can operate on straight gasoline or any ethanol blend up to 85%.
It is important to note that it does not take a special vehicle to run on "ethanol". All vehicles are "ethanol vehicles" and can use up to 10% ethanol with no modifications to the engine. Often people confuse E85 for "ethanol", believing incorrectly that not all vehicles are ethanol-compatible.
Mid-range blends of ethanol: between E10 and E85
ACE is leading efforts to attend to any technical or regulatory hurdles to using ethanol blends above 10%, such as E20, E30, or E40. If these higher percentages of ethanol could be used in standard automobiles, the U.S. could use a dramatically higher amount of renewable fuel, thus significantly decreasing our dependence on petroleum.
Ethanol Industry
Ethanol is a high octane, clean burning, American-made renewable fuel. Its production and use offer a myriad of benefits to the United States and its citizens.
The production of ethanol is an economic engine for the United States, adding value to U.S. agricultural products and bringing billions of dollars to the nation's economy each year. The use of ethanol reduces harmful auto emissions, offers consumers a cost-effective choice at the pump, and decreases the amount of expensive crude oil needed to satisfy the nation's thirst for transportation fuel.
Ethanol is produced at more than 175 facilities across the nation and blended in to unleaded gasoline in varying percentages. Ethanol is most commonly retailed as E10, the blend of 10 percent ethanol (90% gasoline) for use in all automobiles. Increasingly, ethanol is also available as E85, the 85 percent ethanol blend for use in Flexible Fuel Vehicles. Study is being done on allowing the use of blends beyond 10 percent in standard automobiles
Saturday, March 7, 2009
consider elements of education
After entering the global crisis that began in October 2008, the start feel some impact of this month, where many start Reduction of labor, savings perusahaaan, stimulus from the government and many more. At the time this is important once we consider how the development of children when a crisis occurs. We may not let them play not only because we have little or no money.
To buy a game at least we have to consider elements of education, if feasible consumed our children. Also need to be selected again is a competitive price. Education requirements game is a game to get things interesting for our children. With the games that will be more effective to make our children happy and more happy with the game. So what we gave them one game at the best education
