Gov’t Aims to Produce E20 from Sugarcane in Two Years

The Government has prepared to take measures to produce a 20 percent ethanol fuel blend, or E20, within two years.

Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan stated that the President ordered relevant ministries to prepare concrete measures to meet the E20 production target, including preparing land for ethanol raw materials and developing processing industries.

“The President presided over the limited meeting. We discussed the target to produce at least E20 within the next two years. Therefore, the Minister of Agriculture was ordered to prepare the plans, including land,” he said following a limited meeting with President Prabowo Subianto at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday (09/16).

According to Zulkifli, sugarcane is the most viable feedstock for ethanol development. To this end, the Government is preparing around two million hectares of land spread across several regions, including Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Papua islands. Meanwhile, the sovereign wealth fund Danantara will develop ethanol processing industries.

“It turns out that sugarcane is the most viable source for ethanol conversion. We are preparing approximately two million hectares of land, drawing from locations outside of Java, on Java, and on Sumatra. Subsequently, Danantara will develop the industry. We must work hard over the next two years to assess the progress. We need to be capable of producing E20,” he said.

Zulkifli also pointed out that the target can be achieved in two years, so domestically used crude oil can be blended with ethanol to create E20.

“We have reviewed it, and it is possible that in two years, we will have been able to blend our crude oil with E20. The bottleneck is land, but after discussing it, we can use land on the islands of Kalimantan, Sumatra, Java, and Papua,” he said.

Zulkifli further stressed that ethanol for E20 will be produced domestically, adding that the Government is preparing gradual development for higher ethanol content in fuel blends in the long run.

“E20 from entirely domestic production. We will gradually move toward E50, as we did toward B50. However, we must first aim for E20. In the long run, we are eyeing E50,” he said.

On land availability, Zulkifli said the Government has mapped several regions with sugarcane farming potential, adding that sugarcane is preferred over other commodities such as corn and cassava because it is more feasible for mass-scale ethanol production.

“Sugarcane can only grow in select regions. We have assessed corn, and it did not meet the criteria. We also assessed cassava, but it is not easy to harvest, and we cannot apply mechanized agriculture to it. Hence, sugarcane,” he remarked. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (DH/MMB)