Dosen UGM Kembangkan Biodiesel dari Catfish Oil
Dosen UGM Kembangkan Biodiesel dari Catfish Oil
There is an increase in fuel demands while production in Indonesia has not yet fully met them, even decreasing. Data from Indonesia Energy Outlook 2008 showed a rate of 4.4% decrease annually or 950 barrels/day.
This condition encouraged UGM chemistry lecturer, Prof. Dr. Karna Wijaya, M.Eng, to develop biodiesel made from catfish oil as alternative fuel. It uses abundant waste oils from fish. It could be sardines oil, catfish, used cooking oil, castor oil, and palm oil for alternative fuel. Karna chose Pekalongan in Central Java as the city that produces much of sardines oil.
“The idea is simple, how to make use of fish oil. It appeared that much can be produced from fish, including catfish oil."
Karna admitted, however, that the main barrier in the catfish oil development is the government’s role. Without their support to make the oil as alternative energy, it would be useless to develop it. They also need to oversee the production process to prevent unavailabilty of sources for such biodiesel.