The Indonesian government is encouraging the conversion of biogas into bio-compressed natural gas (CNG) for use as a primary energy substitute for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a senior official has said.
“Bio-CNG involves the purification of biogas by separating carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon tetraoxide (CO4) and scrapping other imperitic gas components to produce methane having content above 95 percent,” director of bioenergy at the Mineral Resources and Energy Ministry, Andriah Feby Misna, said in a written statement.
Unpurified biogas contain around 60 percent of methane as fuel. The rest are compounds in the form of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and hydrogen sulfide.
Its purification to bio-CNG can maximize the methane content to 95 percent. It also could lower the carbon dioxide content.
Biomethane can be developed on a commercial scale as a non-electricity fuel for the transportation sector and as an energy substitute for the LPG used in industry, she said.
“The benefit is quite significant since Indonesia still imports LPG in large quantities. The sources of raw materials for the production of bio-CNG vary,” she noted. Furthermore, palm oil waste could serve as raw material for biogas and biomethane generation.