GOVT NOT SERIOUS IN DEVELOPING BIOFUELS : RESEARCHER

Jakarta, May 29 (ANTARA) - The government is not serious in supporting the development of biofuel as an alternative energy source in the country, a biofuel researcher said.

"There is no point in developing biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel if the effort is not fully supported by the government," scientist Wuryaningsih of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said here on Friday.

She said her agency had carried out research for three years for the development of biodiesel and bioethanol but because there was no support from the government "We finally turned to other sectors," she said.

Wuryaningsih said the idea to develop bioethanol and biodiesel arose three years ago when the price of crude in the world market reached US$100 per barrel.

When the crude price was high many sides produced biofuels but when the oil price went down, their number also become smaller.

The advantage of biofuel is environment friendly with a pollution rate to the environment lower than that of fossil fuel. "The rate of pollutant content of biodiesel is lower than that of petroleum because it has less sulfur and lead contents," she said.

Therefore, the government must have the commitment because otherwise it would be useless to ask the people to develop plantations for their raw materials such as jatropha curcas trees and cassava, if no party would purchase their products.

After all, bioethanol and biodiesel production might not be carried out separately because they still have to be mixed with diesel or premium oil, while mixing them, based on regulations, must be carried out by state-owned oil firm Pertamina.

"If Pertamina is the firm which has to do that it would be difficult for the people, except if they are big companies, to have their products processed by Pertamina," she said.

In the meantime, oil observer Kurtubi said on Wednesday that biofuel in Indonesia had not yet developed as expected.

Policies of the government and private firms (upstream industries) have not yet gone in the same direction, particularly with regard to biofuel produced from crude palm oil (CPO).