Adaro, Komatsu, and United Tractors launch bio diesel fuel pilot project
Wednesday, June 1 2011 - 01:44 AM WIB
"This pilot project is considered a worthwhile and do-able project that could be further developed. However, further study on this pilot project still needs to be done to gain commercial acceptance," Adaro said in a statement filed with the Indonesia Stock Exchange
The project aims to ultimately achieve sustainable environmentally friendly mining operations in the mining concession area of PT Adaro Indonesia, Adaro?s wholly owned subsidiary.
The launching took place at Adaro?s mining concession area and was attended among others by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Darwin Saleh, Japan's Ambassador for Indonesia Yoshinori Katori.
Adaro?s President Director Garibaldi Thohir stated, ?This project represents Adaro?s commitment to be a responsible partner that prioritizes safety and environmental preservation, and supports community and national development by achieving sustainable environmentally friendly mining operations within Adaro?s mining concession area.?
In March this year, the construction of a BDF refinery plant (production capacity: 1.2 tons/day) and an analysis laboratory to ensure the quality of BDF were completed at the Adaro coal mine, and the production of European Standard (EN 14214)-based BDF from Jatropha*2 has begun. After confirming the performance of an engine using the refined BDF on bench test, the project staff members began test operations of a Komatsu-made HD785 dump truck (payload: 90 tons) which is deployed at the mine.
This project calls for the production of BDF from Jatropha and other plants at the Adaro coal mine in Kalimantan, and the use of BDF as the fuel to run Komatsu-made HD785 dump trucks in operation at the mine. AI plans to outsource the Jatropha and other plants from outside of its operational areas of the mine, to build a BDF supply-chain capable of sustainable local production and consumption, and expects to achieve mine operations with less environmental impact than that of the current mine operations. UT, as the Komatsu distributor in Indonesia, takes responsibility of product support for the Komatsu Dump Trucks fueled by the BDF.
The three partner companies intend to continue to promote this project in order to operate dump trucks on a scale of 100 units in and after 2012. Given that 20% of the currently used mineral diesel fuel will be replaced with BDF to operate them, approximately 8,000 tons of BDF will be used annually and contribute to the reduction of approximately 20,000 tons of CO2 emissions which are roughly equivalent to 10% of CO2 emissions generated by Komatsu manufacturing plants in Japan. (romel/johannes)