From tapioca to biofuel

SWEET tea-time treats may soon find their way into your car’s petrol tank — a research team from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman’s (Utar) Faculty of Engineering and Science is studying the use of cassava (ketela,singkong in indonesia) , better known as tapioca (tapioka), and sweet potato in the production of biofuels.

“Rising global crude oil prices has prompted the search for alternative energy sources to reduce the reliance on crude oil, and this has opened up a lot of opportunities worldwide,” says Dr Low Chong Yu, who leads the research team comprising students Lim Syly, Koh Cin Cong and Voon Meng Seap.

Farmers chop down sugar cane to grow cassava

For the last 37 years, Quang Ngai province has been considered the “sugar cane metropolis” of the central region. However, farmers in Quang Ngai province do not grow sugar cane any more, but cassavas instead. Cassavas can bring higher profits than sugar cane. The area for growing sugar cane has been reduced gradually in the central province.

Currently, dozens of intermediary merchants are competing fiercely with cassava processing plants to collect cassava (ketela , singkong  in indonesia) from farmers. Plants are purchasing fresh cassava from farmers at 1800 dong per kilo, and merchants have also raised the purchase price to 1800 dong per kilo. Cassava slicing machines have been running day and night, while merchants have been going to every corner in villages and communes to collect cassavas.

Collaboration on cassava-based ethanol

Thailand has teamed up with neighbouring countries to develop ethanol from fresh cassava , aiming to turn the kingdom into a regional technology and production centre for cassava-based renewable fuel. In Indonesia fresh cassava is raw material for strach (tapioka).

Under a programme called South-South Technology Transfer: Ethanol Production from Cassava (ketela,singkong  in indonesia), which is funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GIF), Thailand will be a focal point in forging cooperation with Vietnam, Laos, and Burma.

Biofuel Generasi Kedua, Dari Rumput dan Limbah

Pipa dan tangki stainless steel tersusun rapat dalam kolom setinggi 4lantai di sebuah pilot plant Pusat Penelitian Kimia, Pusat Penelitian Ilmu Pengetahuan dan Teknologi (Puspiptek), Serpong, Banten. Dalam struktur rumit itu, para peneliti Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia mengubah kayu, jerami, dan rumput menjadi bahan bakar. "Pilot plant ini bagian dari tren baru dunia dalam menciptakan bioenergi dari bahan nonpangan, menghasilkan pengganti bensin generasi kedua," ujar peneliti bioetanol dari Pusat Penelitian Kimia, LIPI, Yanni Sudiyani, kepada Tempo pekan lalu.

Cassava for Biofuel in Vietnam

CROPS FOR BIOFUEL This paper to supply the final report for three years (2008-2010) research and development of cassava varieties and new techniques at pilot site selection in Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, Ninh Thuan and Yen Bai province, a production map of cassava for biofuel in Vietnam: opportunities and challenges, and recommendation for next step.  

Hoang Kim[1], Nguyen Van Bo[2] Rod Lefroy, Keith Fahrney⁴ Hernan Ceballos,
Nguyen Phuong, Tran Cong Khanh, Nguyen Trong Hien , Hoang Long
Vo Van Quang[3],Nguyen Thi Thien Phuong, Nguyen Thi Le Dung
Bui Huy Hop, Trinh Van My, Le Thi Yen

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

Three urgent issues of global are energy crisis, environmental risk and food security. The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) received grant funding from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to implement this project, which is also known as the “Programme for Linking the Poor to Global Markets: Pro-poor Development of Biofuel Supply Chains,” but will hereafter be referred to as the “IFAD Biofuels Project”, during a three-year period, between Jan.2008 to Dec. 2010. The objective of the project is to integrate improved cultivars of biofuel crops in smallholder farming systems to provide an alternative source of income, while meeting the varied needs of rural communities for food security and animal feeds. The project will work on three continents, with three major crops as feedstock for biofuels: sweet sorghum (in India, the Philippines, and Mali), cassava  (in China, Colombia, and Viet Nam), ketela , singkong (in indonesia) and jatropha (in India and Mali).  A detailed description of the project is found in the project design document, which was submitted to IFAD in Dec. 2007. ICRISAT is the Programme Executing Agency, responsible to the project’s donor (IFAD). CIAT will manage the cassava research component of the IFAD Biofuels Project in partnership with the Viet Nam Cassava Programme (VNCP) in Viet Nam (including VAAS and NLU) , the Guangxi Subtropical Crops Research Institute (GSCRI) in China, and the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium to Support Cassava Research and Development (CLAYUCA) in Colombia.  Two sections of CIAT are involved in the IFAD Biofuels Project, namely the CIAT Cassava Program based in Colombia and the CIAT Asia Regional Office based in the Lao PDR, Components of the cassava research programme the following Breeding, Varietal Evaluation, Agronomy, Crop Management, Analysis of Livelihood Systems, Assessment of Market Linkages, Models for decentralized bioethanol production, Waste management, Knowledge Sharing. This paper to supply the final report for three years research and development of cassava varieties and new techniques at pilot site selection in Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, Ninh Thuan and Yen Bai province, a production map of cassava for biofuel in Vietnam: opportunities and challenges, and recommendation for next step.  (tapioka in indonesia)

Ir Achmad Subagio: Penemu Mocaf yang Masuk Buku Tokoh Dunia

BUKU bersampul hitam polos itu sangat tebal. Jumlah halaman buku berjudul Who’s Who in the World 2010 itu mencapai 3.197 halaman, ditambah belasan halaman pengantar. Di halaman 2625, nama Achmad Subagio tercetak di dekat pojok kiri bawah halaman.

Di belakang nama yang tercetak tebal itu, ditulis beberapa biodata nama dosen Fakultas Teknologi Pertanian (FTP) Universitas Jember (Unej) itu. Bagio – demikian Achmad Subagio biasa disapa- masuk dalam buku itu bersama 63 ribu orang lainnya dari berbagai belahan dunia, dengan beragam latar belakang dan profesi.

Buku Who’s Who in the World 2010 diterbitkan Marquis Who’s Who, sebuah lembaga nirlaba di Amerika Serikat yang setiap tahun merilis profil manusia di dunia yang memiliki karakter yang telah memberikan banyak manfaat bagi sesama. Di dalam buku yang terbit setiap tahun itu, juga masuk nama raja-raja di dunia, peraih Nobel, dan sebagainya. Mocaf adalah pesain tapioka yang sama-sama dibuat dari singkong atau ketela atau cassava.

Pati Bengkuang untuk Produk Kecantikan

Bengkuang, salah satu komo ditas pertanian yang ter masuk suku polong-po – longan, ternyata tak hanya enak untuk rujak, koktail, maupun diolah sebagai makanan khas Palembang, namun juga bisa diekstrak patinya menjadi bahan masker untuk menyegarkan wajah dan memutihkan kulit. Jadi bukan hanya tepung tapioka dari bahan baku singkong atau ketela atau cassava tapi pati juga dapat dibuat dari bengkuang. Walaupun demikian ada beda sifat antara tapioka dan pati bengkuang.

Lihat saja di televisi, begitu banyak produk kecantikan perampuan yang dengan terus terang menyebutkan bahwa produknya mengandung bengkuang.

Bengkuang yang ciri-cirinya adalah umbi akar tunggal, kulit luar krem atau cokelat, warna daging putih, daun majemuk, bunganya berkelopak cokelat, dan mahkota bunga ungu biru atau putih ini, meskipun memiliki prospek cerah untuk dikembangkan, terdapat beberapa masalah terkait dengan kadar airnya yang cukup tinggi.

“Daya simpan bengkuang segar sangatlah pendek, hanya sekitar 3 – 4 hari. Kadar air bengkuang itu hingga 90 persen,” kata Mukhammad Angwar, peneliti pada Unit Penelitian Terpadu (UPT) Balai Pengembangan Proses dan Teknologi Kimia, Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI), Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta.