BRIN develops palm oil-based BioPAS to replace imported paraffin in batik industry

The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) has introduced Bio Paraffin Substitute (BioPAS), a palm oil-based batik wax innovation designed to replace petroleum-based paraffin, which has long been the main component in the national batik industry. Agus Triputranto, a researcher at BRIN’s Manufacturing Equipment Technology Research Centre, stated in Jakarta on Tuesday that he successfully developed BioPAS through modification of the triglyceride structure of domestic palm oil, and has obtained a granted patent since 2024, marking the technology’s readiness for wider industrial utilisation. “BioPAS was developed as a substitute for petroleum-based paraffin so that the batik industry has an alternative raw material sourced from renewable national resources,” he said. Agus explained that this innovation holds strategic value because it brings together two important Indonesian assets: palm oil as a leading economic commodity and batik as a world cultural heritage. From a technological perspective, he continued, BioPAS offers several advantages that distinguish it from conventional batik wax. One formula can be used across various batik methods, from hand-drawn batik, stamped batik, to cold wax batik techniques. The resulting characteristics include good fabric penetration, ease of application, the ability to form sharp motif lines, flexible properties that resist cracking, and easy removal during the wax removal stage. “The main advantage of BioPAS is its applicability across various batik methods at a more competitive price, while offering the technical characteristics that artisans need,” Agus noted. He mentioned that BioPAS produces a lower environmental impact compared to fossil paraffin-based wax. As a biowax category, this product generates production waste with far lower carbon content and is safe for the environmental ecosystem. Agus outlined that initial research was conducted from 2015–2016, followed by standard testing in 2016, application testing in 2017, and various socialisation activities and workshops in 2019 and 2021. He revealed that the wax requirement in the batik production process is estimated at no less than 84,000 tonnes annually. For hand-drawn batik alone, the wax requirement reaches approximately 165,476 kilogrammes per month, while stamped batik exceeds 13.6 million kilogrammes per month. “With the enormous national batik wax demand, the use of BioPAS has the potential to provide foreign exchange savings while increasing the absorption of domestic palm oil derivative products,” Agus Triputranto concluded.