The design of the coselle-armored barge was designed by the ITS student team

ITS Campus, ITS News – The extreme geographical conditions in eastern Indonesia have made the distribution of natural gas production less economical. Therefore, the student team of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) designed a barge coselle to distribute natural gas demand in eastern Indonesia.

They are Mujadid Aldin Albasyir, Adiv Gayu Athallah, and Annisa Aulia who are members of a group called Anglung Team. The three of them are students of the Department of Marine Engineering, Faculty of Marine Technology (FTK) ITS. They innovated a barge with Winged Air Induction Pipe (WAIP) as the Air Lubrication System.

Mujadid Aldin Albasyir as team leader explained that the innovation was raised from the potential of the eastern region of Indonesia which has natural gas production of approximately 1,000-1,500 MMSCFD and 87 percent of it is exported to other countries. However, due to unfavorable geographical conditions due to scattered islands, the distribution of natural gas in Indonesia becomes difficult. “Therefore, we are innovating natural gas distribution technology by using a barge to make it easier and cheaper,” said the student who is familiarly called Aldin.

The technology designed, according to Aldin, in principle combines the three existing technologies in the maritime industry. The three technologies are Barge, Coselle Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Tank, and WAIP. “We think this technology is more appropriate than using pipelines and carrier ships in the distribution of natural gas,” added this 19-year-old student.

The design of the coselle tank prototype for natural gas distribution was the idea of Anglung Team ITS

Aldin continued, the barge and coselle tank were used to maximize the capacity of natural gas to be carried. While WAIP itself is used to reduce resistance and friction on the ship. So, said Aldin, using the WAIP innovation can automatically reduce and save fuel by 10 percent compared to conventional barges.

In addition, said the student who was born in Sidoarjo, another advantage of the barge made by his team is that it can carry as much as 62 MMSCFD of natural gas in one official trip. “We have adjusted this amount to the demand for gas in Sorong,” he said.

(from left) Mujadid Aldin Albasyir, Annisa Aulia, and Adiv Gayu Athallah showing their innovative barge

When asked about the obstacles, Aldin explained that the limitations of distance and knowledge made the process a bit of a hurdle. Because according to him, the innovation initiated by his team requires crossing analysis software with several ship friction theories. So that with maximum effort, he and the team made theoretical approaches that could solve these problems. “This limitation is because we are a team from the same class, namely the 2019 class,” he said.

However, the team’s efforts for one month resulted in a proud achievement. This barge designed by the Anglung team won second place at the Indonesia Ocean Expo Paper Competition 2021, some time ago. In the competition held by the Ocean Engineering Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), the Anglung ITS team managed to outperform nine other finalists from national universities.

In the end, this alumnus of SMAN 1 Krian hopes that his team’s draft ideas can be implemented in the future when infrastructure development related to transportation and gas processing in eastern Indonesia is adequate. “With the design of the barge that we have proposed, it is hoped that gas supply in the eastern region, especially in Sorong, can be fulfilled effectively,” he concluded hopefully. (ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Mukhammad Akbar Makhbubi