(13) Indonesian 'wonder fuel' just plain diesel

JAKARTA (AFP) — A controversial plan backed by Indonesia's president
to turn water into cheap and limitless energy has run aground, with
tests showing the wonder fuel is just plain diesel, a report said Tuesday.

Government scientists have revealed that tests on the so-called "Blue
Energy," purportedly made from water, showed it was diesel from state
oil company Pertamina, the Jakarta Post reported.

"Blue Energy is nothing extraordinary as it is just a form of
hydrocarbon or fossil fuel," Research and Technology Minister
Kusmayanto Kadiman was quoted as saying.

The energy "breakthrough" grabbed headlines in Indonesia after its
inventor, Joko Suprapto, managed to convince President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono he could separate hydrogen from water, turning it into diesel.

The plan was exhibited at the United Nations climate change conference
in Bali in December with the president's blessing.

Suprapto went missing last month but was found in a hospital in West
Java suffering from heart problems after Yudhoyono, fearing he had
been abducted by jealous oil barons, ordered a police search, Tempo
news magazine reported.


-5th June 2008




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