Inalum plans coal tar pitch production

State-owned aluminum maker PT Inalum will team up with Tekmira, Center for Mineral and Coal Technology Development and Research at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources? Research and Development Agency (Litbang ESDM), for research and production of coal tar pitch.

 

?PT Inalum and Tekmira will collaborate in research and development of coal tar pitch from tar resulting from coal gasification,? said Head of Litbang ESDM Sutijastoto in a statement issued following the signing of MoU with Inalum on February 1.

 

Sutijastoto said that coal tar pitch (CTP) is a residue of tar distillation, which is a byproduct of pyrolysis process such as in coking coal production or coal gasification. CTP has both medicinal and industrial uses.

 

He said that as most of the country?s coal production are non-coking coal, Indonesia needs to search for alternative raw material to produce CTP, whose demand at home has been increasing. CTP price in the global market has also been rising as China cuts down coking coal production.

 

Under the MOU, another unit of Litbang ESDM, called Puslitbangtek KEBTKE will conduct study to provide efficient and environmentally power supply for Inalum, the statement said.

 

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak