The Idea of Producing Bioenergy from Microalga, IPB Students Won the National Student Writing Competition
Students of the Department of Agricultural Technology of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology of Bogor Agricultural University (FATETA IPB), Agung Miftahudin, Teguh Ariyanto and Hikam Waskito Adi won 2 categories of Maritime Studies of National Student Writing Competition held by Hasanuddin University, Makassar. The aims of the National Scientific Writing Competition were to develop writing skills of students in maritime science and technology, as well as to improve the welfare of coastal communities.
The writing contest is one of efforts to improve the creativity and innovation of students for creative and innovative scientific works, especially for the development of Marine Science and Technology (IPTEKS). The three categories for such competition, namely the Marine Territorial Studies, Coastal Studies, and Marine General Studies.
"Our group joined the Marine Territorial Studies for this competition. The study is directed to optimize our marine assets to support the potential utilization and optimization of marine / maritime resources in Indonesia, "said Teguh.
In his paper Agung and the team took up the idea of biodiesel sourced from the abundant microalgae in Indonesia, it is the NRE (Nannochloropsis Renewable Energy). NRE is a biofuel production and high-value compounds of Nannochloropsis type microalgae through a transesterification process. Nannochloropsis is a genus of algae comprising 6 known species, and are believed to be a good source of renewable energy because of its rapid growth rate and its ability to be cultivated in waste water or waste land. Nannochloropsis is considered a promising alga for industrial applications because of its ability to accumulate high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Moreover, it shows promising features that can allow genetic manipulation aimed at the genetic improvement of the current oleaginous strains. Whereas fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum oil and natural gas which are all natural resources created within the Earth, are becoming more scarce daily and cannot therefore be easily replaced making them a “non-renewable” resource. So is nuclear energy.
"His scientific study begins with their concerns about the energy crisis in various countries in the world, especially in Indonesia because the use of oil in the world is always increasing but not balanced with availability. In addition, pollution caused by burning fossil fuel cause the environmental degradation. So we try to provide an alternative problem solving through the utilization of natural resources (microalgae) in Indonesia. Algae are the fastest growing plant and theoretically have the potential to produce more oil or biomass per acre when compared to other crops and plants. Moreover, as Indonesia is a maritime country will surely benefited by the utilization of Algae which is very abundance Indonesia "he said.
The advancements of utilization of NRE is its Renewable Energy aspect. Starting from the upstream, this microalga in its growth will produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide so as to improve environmental conditions while reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Although, Clean Energy Fuels appears to outperform the industry, we can call it more efficient only after assessing the role of leverage in generating those returns and its sustainability based on current financial health. Thus NRE is really "clean" from the beginning.
"The presentation of all participants were interesting, and the actual content is not boring not boring. Moreover, the attractive prototype presented by the participants made them more interesting. However we have to convince ourselves that we could have successful presentation, though actually we lack of self-confidence. We proved that we convince ourselves that we have a sort of cosmic right to an equal with other participants, even better compare with them. Finally, we could made it, we could presented as best as I could and answered all the jury questions successfully. And the most imprint of our presentation was the NRE jargon. It is "NRE! New Energy New Generation," he concluded. (Wied)
