Indonesian Institute of Sciences

About: Indonesian Institute of Sciences is a facility organization based out in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Genus. The organization has 4795 authors who have published 10544 publications receiving 76990 citations. The organization is also known as: Indonesian Institute of Sciences Cibinong, Indonesia.

Production of anhydrous ethanol using oil palm empty fruit bunch in a pilot plant

Abstract: Bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass for use as an alternative energy resource has attracted increasing interest, but short-term commercialization will require several technologies such as low cost feedstock. The huge amount of oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) generated from palm oil industries can be used as a raw material for cheap, renewable feedstock for further commercial exploitation. Using a pilot-scale bioethanol plant, this study investigated the possibility of utilizing oil palm empty fruit bunches as a renewable resource. All bioethanol production processes such as pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, and purification were constructed as automatically controlled integrated processes. The mass balance was calculated from operational results. Changhae ethanol multiexplosion pretreatment with sodium hydroxide was conducted to improve the enzymatic hydrolysis process, and a separate hydrolysis and fermentation process was used for producing bioethanol at an 83.6% ethanol conversion rate. In order to purify the ethanol, a distillation and dehydration facility was operated. Distillation and dehydration efficiencies were 98.9% and 99.2%, respectively. The material balance could be calculated using results obtained from the operation of the pilot-scale bioethanol plant. As a result, it was possible to produce 144.4 kg anhydrous ethanol (99.7 wt%) from 1000 kg EFB. This result constitutes a significant contribution to the feasibility of bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass and justifies the pilot plant's scale-up to a commercial-scale plant.

Observed Transport Variations in the Maluku Channel of the Indonesian Seas Associated with Western Boundary Current Changes

Abstract: The Maluku Channel is a major opening of the eastern Indonesian Seas to the western Pacific Ocean, the upper-ocean currents of which have rarely been observed historically. During December 2012-November 2016, long time series of the upper Maluku Channel transport are measured successfully for the first time using subsurface oceanic moorings. The measurements show significant intraseasonal-to-interannual variability of over 14 Sv (1 Sv 10(6) m(3) s(-1)) in the upper 300 m or so, with a mean transport of 1.04-1.31 Sv northward and a significant southward interannual change of over 3.5 Sv in the spring of 2014. Coincident with the interannual transport change is the Mindanao Current, choked at the entrance of the Indonesian Seas, which is significantly different from its climatological retroflection in fall-winter. A high-resolution numerical simulation suggests that the variations of the Maluku Channel currents are associated with the shifting of the Mindanao Current retroflection. It is suggested that the shifting of the Mindanao Current outside the Sulawesi Sea in the spring of 2014 elevates the sea level at the entrance of the Indonesian Seas, which drives the anomalous transport through the Maluku Channel. The results suggest the importance of the western boundary current nonlinearity in driving the transport variability of the Indonesian Throughflow.

Indonesian universities in transition: catching up and opening up

Abstract: Indonesia's higher education system is changing rapidly: in 2010 there were about 5 million students, up from 2,000 in 1945. Effectively the tertiary system has four tiers, three of which are within the public sector. However, the system is increasingly private sector driven. The key themes of this paper on universities are rapid growth; overcoming the historical backlog; and the need for further fundamental reform. The quality of Indonesia's tertiary institutions is highly variable. Governance structures and incentives regimes within the state universities are complex and obscure. The government both over-regulates and under-regulates. Major reforms are under way and increasing financial resources are available.