Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre is a fast-growing, leguminous and multipurpose tree species. It grows on degraded and marginal land in South and Southeast Asia. It produces nonedible seeds the oil of which is a potential biofuel. In Indonesia, Pongamia is widely found on all islands but mostly to the west of the Wallace line, such as Banten, East Java, South Sumatra, and West Java provinces. The economic feasibility of Pongamia depends on the number of seed per tree and the oil content of the seed. Studies on Pongamia oil in Indonesia revealed that trees grown in Ujung Kulon National Park, Banten Province, produce seed with a higher oil content (i.e., 15.59 % ) than those in the provinces of East and West Java using simple mechanical expeller press. In this study the oil content of 48 individual trees, from Ujung Kulon National Park, were analyzed using a solvent extraction method. As a control, bulk seed was extracted using two different methods: 1) fabricant mechanical screw expeller press and 2) solvent extraction. The results show highly significant or great variation in the oil content of the trees. Oil production of individual trees processed using the solvent extraction method reached 44% (varies from 26.61% to 44.68 % ) than those by mechanical pressing method with bulk seed was only 15 to 19%. The findings show that genetic factors, extraction machines and the method of extraction could all influence the production of Pongamia oil. The quality and genetic diversity of seed source is also very important on industrial plantation forest program for bioenergy and land restoration in Indonesia.
Tag: biofuels
Nature-Based Solution for Balancing the Food, Energy, and Environment Trilemma: Lessons from Indonesia
Demand for food and energy is constantly increasing in line with the global population and there are widespread concerns about environmental conservation. This chapter provides an overview of the identified potential to restore and utilize degraded land through an integrated biofuel- and food-production system that can also conserve the environment. Our findings highlight that the biofuel species Nyamplung (Calophyllum inophyllum L.) and Kemiri sunan [Reutealis trisperma (Blanco) Airy Shaw] in Indonesia are suitable to grow with local food crops on degraded land. Such integrated systems on degraded land are economically and socially favorable for local farmers. Producing biofuel and food on degraded land can also avoid compromising agricultural land use and production, while minimizing the harmful environmental consequences. However, for long-term sustainability of the system, and due to biodiversity and environmental concerns, there is a need to implement a mixed landscape approach using a “segregation” and “aggregation” land-management strategy, supported by competent government policies and local communities with sufficient social capital.
Review of bioenergy initiatives in Indonesia for multiple benefits and sustainable development
Indonesia has committed to advancing its use of new and renewable energy (NRE) through its National Energy Policy (Kebijakan Energi Nasional). It has targeted NRE contributing 23% of the national energy mix by 2025, with bioenergy cited as one strategic measure for achieving this target. With Indonesia’s abundant biomass resources, it is worth assessing and exploring potential bioenergy feedstocks, and identifying opportunities and challenges for development and upscaling. With sustainability being on global and national agendas, Indonesia is no exception with its focus on bioenergy. This chapter discusses bioenergy development initiatives in Indonesia over the past 15 years through a review of literature from 2005–2018, and provides a general review and updates to 2020. It discusses emerging issues pertinent to multiple-benefit potentials, competing uses and other development agendas. The study looks at Indonesia’s abundant resources that could be developed for bioenergy, and discusses numerous studies dedicated to bioenergy development potential. Palm oil, Jatropha curcas and biogas are the most well-studied potential sources of bioenergy. Beyond these, implementation at scale remains a challenge, and feasibility studies including linkages with major offtakers are necessary. While many bioenergy initiatives have faced challenges with uptake, oil palm (Elaeis guinensis) biofuel is by far the most widely developed and used in Indonesia. Although opportunities exist to synergize bioenergy development with various development agendas, in some instances trade-offs might be necessary.
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Prospects for wood-based electricity for the Indonesian National Energy Policy
To achieve the target of 23% renewable energy by 2020, Indonesia has been actively exploring options to loosen its dependence on fossil fuels. While biofuels have been developing fast and remain a priority for the government, wood-based energy also holds great potential. This report is a first attempt to assess its state of development and feasibility.
Wood-based energy could be based on the high-profile large-scale industrial tree plantation program in Indonesia. This is one of the largest in the world with millions of hectares planted, but it has failed to achieve all of its public objectives. The government envisions its revival, with bioenergy as an alternative to the mature pulp and paper market. To do so, a flagship feed-in tariff policy has been put in place as an incentive for power plants to using biomass (or biogas material).
Our research – based on intensive interactions with stakeholders at all levels, secondary data and three case studies – leads to one straightforward message that this source of energy is not going to represent a significant share of the energy mix for a long time. Major obstacles include the difficulty in establishing and managing large-scale tree plantations dedicated to energy production with recurrent claims and conflicts on the ground, the inability of the feed-in tariff policy to compensate investors for the risks of shifting to a new type of energy, the absence of subsidies provided to the state-owned electricity company that sees little interest in buying relatively expensive power, and the lack of proof of concept that lowers the probability of significant investments in this field.
To achieve the target of 23% renewable energy by 2020, Indonesia has been actively exploring options to loosen its dependence on fossil fuels. While biofuels have been developing fast and remain a priority for the government, wood-based energy also holds great potential. This report is a first attempt to assess its state of development and feasibility.
The global cropland footprint of the non-food bioeconomy
A rapidly growing share of global agricultural areas is devoted to the production of biomass for non-food purposes. The derived products include, for example, biofuels, textiles, detergents or cosmetics. Given the far-reaching global implications of an expanding nonfood bioeconomy, an assessment of the bioeconomy’s resource use from a footprint perspective is urgently needed. We determine the global cropland footprint of non-food products with a hybrid land flow accounting model combining data from the Food and Agriculture Organization and the multi-regional input-output model EXIOBASE. The globally interlinked model covers all cropland areas used for the production of crop- and animal-based non-food commodities for the years from 1995 to 2010. We analyse global patterns ofraw material producers, processers and consumers of bio-based non-food products, with a particular focus on the European Union. Results illustrate that the EU is a major processer and the number one consumer region of non-food cropland, despite being only the fifth largest producing region. Two thirds of the cropland required to satisfy EU non-food consumption are located in other world regions, giving rise to a significant dependency on imported products and to potential impacts on distant ecosystems. With almost 29% in 2010, oilseed production, used to produce, for example, biofuels, detergents and polymers, represents the dominant share in the EU’s non-food cropland footprint. There is also a significant contribution of more traditional non-food biomass uses such as fibre crops (for textiles) and animal hides and skins (for leather products). Our study emphasises the importance of comprehensively assessing the implications of the non-food bioeconomy expansion as envisaged in various policy strategies, such as the Bioeconomy Strategy of the European Commission.