Simulating Bioethanol Production from Sago Palm Grown on Peatland of West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

Bioethanol is one of renewable energy which is becoming a hot issue as energy crisis crushed almost all countries world wide. It is produced from starchy cellulose-rich plants such as rice, corn, cassava, sugarcane, sorghum, and sago palm. In Indonesia, sago palm is a potential candidate to be used as a raw material for bioethanol production. Beside its benefits such as high starch productivity, relatively sustainable, environmental friendly and multitude of usages, sago starch is not widely consumed as staple food. Therefore using this starch may not adversly affect food security. In West Kalimantan, peatland is a potential area for growing sago palm. It can thrive and nourish on these swampy areas without high external input as do for many other crops. Given the data of sago starch production, we simulate the production of bioethanol by using conversion factor from starch into bioethanol. Applying scenario of growing sago palm along river bank ( up to 200 m, 400m, 600m, 800m, and 1000m from the river bank), bioethanol production were mapped.