PALMOILMAGAZINE, NUSA DUA – A team of chemistry students from the University of Jambi has successfully developed an innovative product called nano-bio-briquet using palm oil waste. The team, comprised of Vinanta Yulianti, Septia Wulandari, Raden Muhammad Khairul Umam Gibran, and Zaifuddin Zuhro Tholallah, was guided by their lecturer, Restina Bemis, S.Si., M.Si.
Their achievement has secured funding for national-level palm oil research and development from the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (PO PFMA) for the 2023-2024 Palm Oil Research at the student level.
Vinanta Yulianti, the team leader, expressed that their motivation stemmed from the extensive palm oil plantations in the province. “We aim to address the waste issues associated with palm oil plantations and find effective ways to process it. This led us to create nano-bio-briquet as an innovative solution,” Vinanta stated, as reported by Palmoilmagazine.com on Saturday, October 19, 2024.
With energy consumption in Indonesia rising by approximately 10% each year, sustainable energy has become a critical issue. According to data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Indonesia’s oil reserves stand at just 3.95 billion barrels, with projections suggesting that crude oil could be depleted within the next decade. In light of this energy crisis, nano-bio-briquet presents a viable alternative to fossil fuels.
The innovation utilizes solid liquid waste from palm oil, including midrib, fiber, shell, and empty fruit bunches, as feedstock for producing coal. Additionally, the liquid waste from palm oil mill effluent (POME) serves as a binder. The nano-bio-briquet produced by the team meets the Indonesia National Standard (SNI 01/6235/2000) for quality, with characteristics including a water content of 7.32%, ash content of 2.20%, a calorific value of 7,769 Kcal/Kg, and a burn rate of 0.087 grams per minute.
Restina Bemis, the lecturer that developed the team said the achievement showed that nano-bio-briquet from palm oil waste has the big potential as the renewable energy to replace fossil energy.
The research itself delivered valuable experiences for the students. They got the chance to join workshop and provision about palm oil research competition in Pekanbaru in February 2024, did monitoring and evaluation in Jakarta in June 2024. Series of activity would en in Bali in October 2024 in the Pekan Riset Sawit Indonesia and the closing ceremony of the competition. (P2)
