29

AVTURALGA : BIO JET FUEL FROM CHLORELLA, SP MICROALGAE

ABSTRACT
The development of the aviation industry has a positive impact on increasing connectivity,
distribution of goods and services, and tourism nowadays. Meanwhile, this industry contributes to
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a result of the use of non-renewable fossil fuels. Ester-based
jet fuel (bioavtur) is the best solution to significantly reduce GHG emissions in the aviation
industry. One option that’s potential for bioavtur is palm oil. Although the availability of palm oil
is abundant in Indonesia, palm oil-based bioavtur isn’t feasible to produce. It’s because the cost of
raw materials is greater than the price of jet fuel itself, and palm oil is more identical in the food,
oleochemical and biodiesel industries. Chlorella sp microalgae, is one of the third-generation
biofuel feedstocks, which has advantages over palm oil, including its aspects of productivity,
cultivation, quality of oil produced, and more environmentally friendly. Heretofore, there has been
no industry that produces microalgae-based bioavtur both in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia.
Avturalga, bioavtur from chlorella sp, will be produced through multi-stages of the process.
The first stage is the microalgae cultivation, which the media used is fertilizer industry wastewater
located in East Borneo, using the Open Pond Raceway cultivation system that’s simpler and easier
to operate. The further process is the extraction of dried microalgae using Ultrasound Assisted
Extraction and followed by a solid-liquid separation to obtain microalgae oil. Oil and methanol
are then reacted with alkaline catalysts in Ultrasound-continuous reactors and continued with
liquid-liquid separation. The final stage is the separation of the bioavtur fraction from microalgae
fatty acid esters mixture by distillation at vacuum pressure.
From the description of the process, Avturalga is produced with a process that is simpler,
effective and efficient compared to green jet fuel from palm oil. Avturalga products are designed
as a mixture of commercial jet fuel (Jet-A1) with a maximum composition of 30% v/v without
reducing the quality of the jet fuel. Based on the process and quality of its products, Avturalga can
provide prices that are competitive enough to compete with Jet-A1.
Avturalga products can fulfill jet fuel consumption and are able to replace Jet-A1 as an
aircraft fuel in the future. With the presence of the Avturalga plant, it can improve the economy
of the people through employment both in the microalgae cultivation activities or the factory itself.
Moreover, cooperation with the fertilizer industry can have a favourable on wastewater
management.