MBKM internship at PT. Tunas Baru Lampung
PT. Tunas Baru Lampung Tbk. is a member of Sungai Budi Group which is engaged in the production of food and non-food ingredients and is located in Lampung. One example of non-food products from PT. Tunas Baru Lampung is biodiesel. This factory was established in 1973. However, for the production of biodiesel itself, it only started operating in 2016. PT. Tunas Baru Lampung became one of the practical work locations for several students from the Department of Bioenergy Engineering and Chemurgy at the Institut Teknologi Bandung, namely Niken Anisha Puteri (14518010), Kholidatul Fauziyah Nursaid (14518014), Joshua Michael Tarigan Tua (14518028), and Muhammad Ilham Azzindi (14518030), with supervisor Antonius Indarto, ST, M.Eng., Ph.D.
In accordance with what was announced by the Minister of Education and Culture, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, practical work activities in the Department of Bioenergy Engineering and Chemurgy this year are part of the MBKM (Merdeka Belajar Merdeka Campus) activity which aims to encourage students to master various sciences to enter the world of work. During the period of offline practical work, participants get a lot of very interesting experiences. This is because participants are given the opportunity to be able to see firsthand the process of making biodiesel from raw materials in the form of Refined Bleached and Deodorized Palm Oil (RBDPO) to the biodiesel purification process. The process of making biodiesel or commonly known as transesterification consists of several stages until a product can be produced in the form of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME), which include the transesterification stage, separation of fatty acids from glycerol, separation of methanol, and separation of water from glycerol. The biodiesel production process also produces by-products in the form of crude glycerol with a purity of 80-85% which will be further processed to obtain higher purity (>90%) so that glycerol can be modified into glycerol derivatives with higher economic value.
Not only studying the biodiesel production process, the practical work participants are also allowed to see the utility system of the biodiesel plant such as water supply and electricity needs. The water supply system implemented by PT. Tunas Baru Lampung is a Reverse Osmosis (RO) process that can process seawater into cooling water needed for the production process through a cooling tower. With the same process, Reverse Osmosis (RO), the steam produced can also be used to drive a turbine. The steam used to drive the turbine comes from the heat generated by the boiler with raw material in the form of coal and then this steam will produce electricity and the electricity will be distributed to the factory.
In addition, the practical work participants are also given the opportunity to see the development of a new factory that is in the process of being worked on. The plant will be used to improve the quality of the biodiesel and glycerol produced and the utilization of PFAD (Palm Fatty Acid Distillate). PT. Tunas Baru Lampung continues to innovate to improve the quality of its products. The biodiesel production process at PT. Tunas Baru Lampung is expected to be able to help Indonesia become the largest biodiesel producer in the world and of course to help Indonesia achieve its new renewable energy mix target by 2025.
