Biomass Gasification, an Innovation for Providing Frontier Areas with Electricity

May 20, 2022 - ( update : 16-06-2022 )

By Adi Permana

Editor Adi Permana

Electricity is one of the largest produced and most needed energy in the world. Even though it is massively produced, some areas in Indonesia are not supplied with electricity yet, especially in the remote reaches of the nation. The introduction of electrical power in those isolated regions will certainly be an immense help to the area residents. An energy source that can be locally produced, such as biomass gasification, has a chance to answer this problem.

The Undergraduate Program in Bioenergy and Chemurgical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Institut Teknologi Bandung held a guest lecture for the course TB3201 – Biomass Thermal Conversion last Tuesday (13/4/2022). The theme “Biomass Gasification for Electricity in Remote Areas in Indonesia” was raised in this guest lecture meeting. One of the testing areas for this innovation was Kundur Island, Riau Islands. The lecturer for this event was Steve Kosasih, S.T., a biomass gasification practitioner from PT Prima Gasifikasi.

Gasification is a thermochemical process of changing solid fuels into gass, where the amount of air (oxygen) used in the heating process is low enough to not cause combustion. During gasification, the main chemical reactions occurred in endothermic reactions. The most common media used in the gasification process are air and steam. “Gasification processes can bring many potential benefits. From power plant sources, fuel inputs processing, recycling wastes into useful products, also it’s friendly to the air environment”.

To utilize gasification, new technology in the form of the Biomass Gasification Engine System (BGES) was created. BGES technology also provides various benefits for various sectors. This technology replaces the role of diesel and petroleum to create electricity, has fast installation and mobilization times, is more economical in maintenance costs, is environmentally friendly, and also utilizes waste biomass very well.

This BGES technology is suitable for factories located in areas that have a lot of biomass waste and lack electricity sources. What's more, this technology produces a carbon-negative cycle which results in much lower emissions than the carbon positive cycle.

Therefore, the various advantages provided by BGES technology are very suitable for power generation solutions in remote areas of Indonesia. The low source of electrical energy in various remote areas is not an obstacle for this technology. In addition, many remote areas in Indonesia are rich in natural resources which of course will produce many sources of energy to be processed by BGES.

Reporter: Yoel Enrico Meiliano (Food Engineering, 2020)
Translator: Favian Aldilla R (Civil Engineering, 2019)