About

The development of research in the field of bioenergy is not new in the world. It is a form of renewable energy that is derived from recently living organic materials known as biomass, which can be used to produce transportation fuels, heat, electricity, and products. Bioenergy is unique as it is at the heart of green development and aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as multi problem solvers—contributing to better agriculture, environment, health, as well as climate and air pollution in which no other renewable energy could do that.

Biomass
Biomass is biological material that is usually considered as waste and is often destroyed by burning. The biomass can be processed into biochar, which is a fuel that has a high calorific value and can be used in everyday life. In addition, the use of waste as a raw material in biomass technology is currently being intensified to be processed so that it can be used as an energy source through gasification technology. Gasification is an indirect combustion of solid and liquid biomass by converting them to combustive syngas used directly as fuel or as raw material for the production of synthetic gas such as hydrogen.

Biodiesel
Biodiesel, one type of bioenergy, also has great potential to be developed. This is not only because biodiesel can replace diesel fuel which is widely used for transportation, but also because Indonesia has a variety of plants that can be used as raw materials for biodiesel, such as palm oil. Currently, Indonesia is implementing the mandatory B100 biodiesel program in various sectors such as micro-enterprises, fisheries, agriculture, transportation and public services (subsidised), non-subsidized transportation, power generation, industry, and commercial. As for its application in the road transportation sector, the aviation industry is projected to have a significantly larger market globally in the near future. Therefore, a progressive development towards a clean energy solution of biomass for the aviation industry, that is known as bio-jet fuel, is becoming more urgent to be realised.

Biogas
It is also possible to develop bioenergy development opportunities, especially biogas, in Indonesia for both household and industrial scale application. Various organic wastes and agro-industrial wastes are potential raw materials to be processed into biogas through anaerobic digestion technology. The main products of this biogas are methane gas and organic fertilisers. Methane gas has been widely known as an environmentally friendly raw material, because it can burn completely so that it does not produce smoke that adversely affects air quality. Because of these properties, methane gas is a gas that has high economic value and can be used for various purposes ranging from cooking, to driving turbines for steam power plants.

Currently, bioenergy has become one of the renewable energy sources that is being massively developed in Indonesia. With abundant natural wealth, easy to find, and renewable, Indonesia has the potential to become the world's bioenergy barn. Indonesia's potential for bioenergy as electricity is huge, around 442 Gigawatts (GW). However, the utilisation up to 2021 is only 99.4 GW or less than 1%. This is the reason for the Government to encourage the development of bioenergy to meet the challenge of achieving the 23% target in 2025. Bioenergy can be used to generate electricity as well as fuel—realising the goals of the national energy policy by maximising renewable energy and minimising the consumption of fossil energy.

Acknowledging all points stipulated above, RDI aims to develop a research group focused on the bioenergy sector through research activities to provide accessible, appropriate, reliable, and high-quality information and knowledge, aims to support strong links and connections between research organisations, universities, industry, and government in driving and delivering collaborative innovations and growth for Indonesia’s bioenergy transformation. Under Renewable Energy and Emission Reduction (REER) research cluster which consists of various sustainable energy practitioners (governments, utilities, regulators, private sectors (clean energy developers), universities, international development partners, civil society), the data and information gaps would be addressed and the best available information and knowledge would be provided to enhance the efforts and capacity of practitioners in influencing their decisions.