Drop-in Biofuels : Cleaner, Faster and Cheaper

Drop-in biofuels are hydrocarbon fuels — exactly the same with fossil fuels we use today, only we produce from vegetable/animal oil or biomass. It is definitely cleaner than fossil fuels because the emissions released when burning are offset by CO2 absorbed during plant growth.

How can he procure faster than the search for new oil sources, for example? Look at the chart below. From exploration to actual production, oil can be produced in the fastest 10 years. Oil from tamanu, for example, can be mass produced in a span of 4–7 years.

Then how can he be cheaper? Two factors, first it can be produced from plants grown at the user’s location, in addition to reducing logistics costs, it is also much lower in carbon footprint. Second is the so-called Multiple Products Cost Sharing (MPCS), the cost of fuel production is shared with other products such as Virgin Tamanu Oil (VTO) and Polyphenols which are of higher value for the wellness and pharmaceutical industries.

So if we know that our oil reserve in Indonesia will run out, and we are also in a global commitment to reduce emissions together, what fuel should be the top priority to be developed? In my opinion, the most logical is this drop-in biofuels. Moreover, there are 14 million hectares of critical and very critical land in 33 provinces are now under or even unutilized, we can used it to grow tamanu.

And this can even be developed on a micro scale, communities that care about clean energy, remote island communities, projects in remote areas etc. We can also assist organisation not only in Indonesia, but all over the world if they want to adopt this drop-in biofuels strategy.