Prof. Dr. Agus Dana Permana
Ketua Kelompok Keahlian
Agroteknologi dan Teknologi Bioproduk
The Agrotechnology and Bioproduct Technology Research Group (ATB Research Group) was established in 2012 with the aim of advancing the development of agriculture and bioindustry in a sustainable manner. This aspects studied the upstream to downstream process, which includes increasing the productivity of plant biomass in a controlled manner, post-harvest storage and processing, and biomass conversion technology in an integrated manner between one process and another sustainably into several bioproducts that can be applied in the fields of food, energy, health, and the environment. Currently, the ATB Research Group has 16 research faculty members.
The focused programs and activities of ATB Group so far include increasing the capacity of team members in studying several agricultural commodities and their utilization into bioproducts with economic value, processing agricultural products that focus on land use efficiency and solar radiation, as well as optimizing the use of natural media and pesticides. Some of the commodities that have been developed by the ATB Group include the black soldier flyblack soldier flyTrigona stingless bee, Trigonacassava and various rare tubers, and essential oil-producing plants. Research and development of bioproducts and technologies are also carried out for the downstream process of agricultural products in the form of food and feed, renewable energy and active substances, such as mocamodified cassava flouranimal feed, biodiesel, essential oils, protein hydrolysates, propolis, enzymes, and solid and liquid organic fertilizers. In addition to this, ATB also develops field laboratories and educational tourism zones through cooperation with both the government and other parties to provide benefits to the community.
In 2021, ATB members have released various research and community service results in the form of articles in national and international journals, community assistance dissemination activities, and other various types of outputs. Articles in national and international journals that have been published reach a total of 21 articles. In addition, the ATB Research Group has also produced 4 books and/or book chapterbook chapters, 2 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the form of innovation videos, and 19 articles or news published in various types of mass media. In addition, ATB also held a Visiting Professor program, Visiting Professor, with Dr. Juro Miyasaka from Kyoto University, Japan as the collaborator. The program was held from 9 October - 2 November 2021 which consisted of discussions on potential collaborations, guest lectures, and international webinars.
From 2012 to 2021, ATB Research Group has also collaborated with 7 domestic and foreign educational institutions, as well as 18 companies, which has a positive impact on the broad scope of research and community service activities. Some of the national institutions that collaborate with ATB include the Ministry of Agriculture, Vegetable Research Institute, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and several local governments in developing bioproducts. Cooperation with several institutions outside the campus has been implemented in several regions such as West Bandung, Sumedang, Lubuk Linggau, Tapanuli, and Central Kalimantan, in terms of making primary and secondary metabolites (food, feed, propolis and essential oils), biomass bioconversion, renewable energy, and other materials, as well as nutraceutical to show a strong commitment in supporting ITB to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Research Roadmap
Theroadmap of ABT research and development is the stages towards the development of a sustainable Agriculture-Bioindustry system in Indonesia that can be achieved by using the concept of biorefinery dan siklus bio-geo-kimiawi (Biogeochemical Cycles). Biorefinery is a concept of processing the entire biomass to produce various components of bio-products with the lowest possible input of energy and external materials and overall giving maximum added value to the biomass processed. An innovative and strategic scheme that should be implemented to support the sustainability of agriculture-bioindustry is the processing of biomass with the biorefinery concept, biorefinery which requires the guarantee and ease of recyclingrecycleThe return of key nutrients to the farm can increase land productivity and reduce external nutrient inputs while maintaining the harmony of plant interactions with the environment, especially with organisms that support the sustainability of the ecological system around the farm.
Under the general umbrella of platform biorefinery, some of platform specific platform possibilities that can be pursued towards integrated agro-bioindustry are:carbohydrate and protein platform” yaitu berbasis karbohidrat (padi) dan protein (hortikultura), “oil and starch platform‘oil and starch platform’ which is vegetable oil (lipids) such as castor bean, rubber seed, hazelnut seed and starch (root crops),terpenoid platformwhich is essential oil such as eucalyptus, citronella, cinnamon and frankincense andbiological conversion platform‘biological conversion platform’ which converts biological resources into high-value bioproducts using biological agents such as Trigona bee, black soldier fly (BSFL) and cattle. Spatially integrated bioindustrial development with biomass producers will increase the added value of agricultural biomass and create off-farm jobs in off-farm rural areas and help realize a sustainable agri-bioindustrial system..
Research activities in the ATB Research Group can be divided into three stages, namely basic research, applied research and development research that refers to the Technology Readiness Level (TKT) in accordance with the SITH Strategic Plan. Figure 1 shows the road map for the development of bioproduction and bioconversion technology of various sources of primary and secondary metabolites from 2010 to 2025 follows the morphological shape of a leaf with the basic building of Oblongus which is elongated with almost parallel sides. The leaf blade reflects the bioconversion technology, while the upper leaf blade reflects the carbohydrate and protein platform and the oil and starch platform. The lower leaf blade represents the terpenes, phenolic, and nitrogen-compound platform. Road map is prepared for the next 10 years starting from 2015-2025. The establishment of the Bioengineering Study Program at SITH ITB in 2010 became the basis for the start of research and development activities of the ATB. The TKT for carbohydrate and protein platform is already at level 7 (development research), which is the demonstration of system prototypes in actual environments.
The TKT for oil and starch platform cultivation and oil and starch platform which is the validation of components/subsystems in a relevant environment. The trial production of biodiesel from rubber seeds was demonstrated in Palangkaraya in 2015 while the program to utilize hazelnut seeds to produce bioproducts using the biorefinery concept was disseminated in Jatigede in 2016. The TKT for the cultivation and processing of terpenes, phenolic, and nitrogen-compound platform is still at level 1 (basic research), where the basic principles of the technology are researched and reported. Research related to essential oil from eucalyptus has been researched and reported since 2010, while the utilization of citronella leaves to produce essential oil and other bioproducts using the biorefinery concept has been researched and reported since 2014. Other potential resources as raw materials to produce secondary metabolitesterpene, phenolic, dan nitrogen-containing compoundare still being identified, including cinnamon and frankincense, which will begin in the second semester of 2016.
The TKT for the biological conversion platform as a whole is at level 3, which is analytically and experimentally proving important concepts, functions and/or characteristics. The research developed at ATB is based on the Input-Proses-Output (IPO) concept. The inputs used are biological resources including rice and horticultural crops as well as macro and micro-algae while the output . The process used to convert inputs into outputs is a biological process that uses biological agents either plants, animals or microbes. Examples of biological agents used in biological conversion platform platforms include Trigona bees, BSFL, cows and also fungi.
In the long term, the research and development of the ATB Group does not stop at level 9 as stated in the SITH Strategy Plan document but continues to higher levels, namely levels 10 and 11. Level 10 is the integration of various biological resources and bioconversion agents in an integrated agricultural system to produce the development of a sustainable Agriculture-Bioindustry system. Level 11 is continuous improvement to increase productivity and conversion efficiency in order to achieve an integrated polyculture-biorefinery system, integrated polyculture-biorefinery namely the simultaneous cultivation of various plants and other organisms to produce various high-value bioproducts using the biorefinery.
