JAKARTA (Antara): The Agency for the Assessment and Application ofTechnology (BPPT) started on Monday testing the use of palm-oil-basedbiodiesel on 23 employee buses as a way to introduce the use of biodieselfuel.

There were also dozens of minibuses taking part in the B10 Java-BaliBiodiesel Road Test sent off by State Minister of Research and TechnologyM. Hatta Radjasa.

The road test will cover a distance of some 2,000 kilometers using amixture of 10 percent biodiesel and 90 percent diesel fuel.

"The test is to introduce the environmentally friendly biodiesel developedby BPPT, which can be used directly without altering the engine," Hattasaid.

"Indonesia consumes 16 million kiloliters of diesel annually. We can saveup to 1.6 million kiloliters if we can make all diesel-powered vehiclesuse the biodiesel mixture," he added.

Hatta asserted that biodiesel was not only cleaner but also cheaper, andkept the engine in a better condition.

Biodiesel can be made of coconut, jarak seed (ricimus communis), kapokseed (Ceiba pentandra), palm oil and soybean, with Hatta saying that therewere some 40 plants in Indonesia that could be developed into biodiesel.

"Indonesia will become a net oil importer in 10 years so we have toprepare alternative fuels from now. Planting more oil plants will enableus to fulfill biodiesel consumption," he said.