JAKARTA - The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) continues to encourage the realization of coal gasification projects in the country, including plans to develop coal to methanol in the Batuta Coal Industrial Park (BCIP), East Kutai, East Kalimantan. The development of the methanol plant project from coal through the gasification process is an effort to increase the capacity of the methanol industry in Indonesia, whose needs continue to increase.
"The need for methanol in Indonesia has reached 1.1 million tons in 2019. Meanwhile, Indonesia only has one methanol producer, namely PT Kaltim Methanol Industri in Bontang, with a capacity of 660 thousand tons per year," said the Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, Sunday (5/17).
The Minister of Industry said the plan for coal to methanol development at BCIP in East Kutai is worth an investment of US $ 2 billion. The consortium project between PT Bakrie Capital Indonesia and PT Ithaca Resources and Air Products and Chemical, Inc., is projected to process 4.7 - 6.1 million tons of coal to 1.8 million tons of methanol per year.
Agus hopes that the coal to methanol development plan consortium can be carried out well and smoothly until it operates commercially later. According to him, the methanol industry is a petrochemical industry which plays a very important role in the downstream industry development. Methanol raw materials are needed in the textile industry, plastics, synthetic resins, pharmaceuticals, insecticides, plywood. Methanol also acts as an antifreeze and inhibitor in oil and gas activities. Then methanol is one of the raw materials for producing biodiesel. (LM)