Malapari Has Potential as Renewable Energy Source

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - The local malapari plant is being eyed as a future solution to cut greenhouse‑gas emissions in the aviation sector. The National Innovation and Research Agency (BRIN) says vegetable oil extracted from malapari seeds has strong potential to be developed into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), or green jet fuel.

“Malapari is one of the oil‑producing plants that can serve as biodiesel feedstock. Its oil also has potential to be developed into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF),” said a researcher at BRIN’s Applied Botany Research Center, Danu, in a statement in Jakarta on Wednesday, 15 July 2026.

Danu identified a key advantage of malapari, which is its ability to grow on degraded and marginal lands that are unsuitable for food crops.

He explained that its root system forms nodules that fix nitrogen, helping to improve soil quality. Those characteristics make malapari promising both for land rehabilitation and as a renewable energy source.

Beyond bioenergy oil, nearly every part of the malapari plant has economic value. The seed cake remaining after oil extraction can be used as animal feed, while the leaves are being developed as an ingredient for cosmetics through research partnerships with industry.

To support downstream development of the research, BRIN’s Macropropagation Technology Research Group is collaborating with several companies and agencies.

“We are planting malapari at multiple sites as feedstock sources. Development runs in parallel with building processing facilities so that when feedstock supply is ready, the processing industry is ready to operate,” said Danu, as quoted by Antara.

He hopes the public will become more familiar with malapari as one solution to future energy supply challenges. Developing plant‑based energy sources is an important step to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and support more sustainable development.

“We have succeeded in producing biodiesel from malapari. We hope people will learn about the plant and take interest in cultivating it. Interest from foreign companies, including Japanese firms, is already substantial. This shows that species grown in Indonesia have great potential to become globally competitive bioenergy commodities,” said Danu. ***