Zakijah Irfin when presenting her dissertation in front of the audience of the open session of doctoral promotion in Department of Chemical Engineering ITS

ITS Campus, ITS News-Asbuton Asphalt is one of the natural resources from Buton Island, Southeast Sulawesi that its use is still not maximal. Related to that, doctoral students of Chemical Engineering Institute of Ten November (ITS), Zakijah Irfin, succeeded in designing methods that can suppress the price of Asbuton in his dissertation that was displayed at the open session of doctoral promotion at the Oedjoe Djoeriaman hall of Department of Chemical Engineering, Monday (24/2).

In her dissertation entitled Separation Bitumen from Asbuton Using Hot Water Process Modification Method, successfully obtained production cost per kilogram of Bitumen (pure Asbuton) to Rp 5,233. The price can be even cheaper if the whole production is done in Buton Island itself.

The price, said Zakijah, is also much cheaper if compared to the price of oil asphalt that is often used is around Rp 7,000 – Rp 7,500. While the price of the Asbuton semi-extraction itself has a price of three to four times the asphalt of oil.

Therefore, Zakijah sure if the price of bitumen products from the modified Hot Water Process (HWP) method is quite competitive in the market. “It is also supported because the price of the raw materials themselves are cheaper,” said the lecturer of Malang State Polytechnic.

According to Zakijah, there has been some research on the method of modification of HWP in the Asbuton, but Zakijah succeeded to develop it by using the surfactant SDBS and the use of sealing agent in the form of alkali salts Na5P3O10, Na2SiO3, Na2CO3.

Photo of Zakijah Irfin with family and judges after the open session of doctoral promotion in Department of Chemical Engineering ITS

Based on data from the Directorate General of Construction, Ministry of Public Works and Housing (PUPR) in 2016, the needs of asphalt in Indonesia reached 1,640 million tons and is expected to continue to grow. Also, domestic asphalt production produced by Pertamina and its partners is only about 753 thousand tonnes or about 46 percent of national needs. “While the downside of 54 percent is still obtained from imports,” she said.

However, it should be with the reserve of natural asphalt around 650 million tons, the need for domestic asphalt can be fulfilled if able to utilize it with the maximum. By having a bitumen rate of 15 – 30 percent, it can be obtained at about 130 million tonnes. Based on the number, the lecturer from Malang calculated if the Asbuton Reserve will not expire until 79 years in the future.

Therefore, students of the guidance of Prof. Dr. Ir Ali Altway MSc, Dr. Ir Susianto DEA, and Prof. Dr. Ir Suprapto DEA hope that this research can be applied immediately on an industrial scale. “This, too, will reduce the number of Indonesian imports that will also save the use of the foreign exchange,” she concluded.(sof/rev/ITS Public Relations)