Robert Manurung: Inventor of renewable green fuel.

(From The Jakarta Post)

from THE JAKARTA POST -- SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2006 -- PAGE 4 There is good news and bad news about research development in Indonesia. First, the bad news is that Indonesia often lags behind other countries. And now, the good news: An Indonesian researcher has applied pure jatropha oil as an alternative bio-diesel fuel

The oil, which is produced from castor oil plants or Jatropha curcas, locally known as jarak pagar, is environmentally friendly and cheaper than fossil fuel, thanks to the hard work of Robert Manurung and his team at the Biotechnology Research Center, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB)

"In research development, we are lagging behind other countries because we are often more content to follow rather than to become a leader or innovator," lamented Manurung, 52

While other scientists use methanol in processing jatropha oil, Manurung was determined to transform the oil into diesel fuel without adding any additional substance -- and he succeeded

The potency of pure jatropha oil was proven in the recent Jatropha Expedition 2006, an eight-day, 3,200-kilometer test-drive, using jatropha oil as fuel for three vehicles from Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara, to Jakarta. The expedition, which was also sponsored by National Geographic Indonesia magazine, gave the hope that renewable energy could replace fossil fuel that might run out in the next 50 or 100 years

Local administrations in several regions, like East Nusa Tenggara, are planning to open jatropha plantations with a hope that local people would enjoy the economic benefits of the project

Manurung was born in 1954 in Lumban Lobu, a small town near Lake Toba, North Sumatra. He graduated from the Chemical Engineering Department of the Bandung Institute of Technology in 1978 and three years later he obtained his master's degree in Energy Technology from the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok. He obtained his doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering from Rijks Universiteit …