Energy Productivity Ratio (EPR) in Producing Aren Sugar from Nira
Aren Tree: Traditional Processing
Bode Haryanto, Hendrik Khosman, Asmiah Hasibuan, Fenny Wijaya, Putri Herfayati
and Tubagus Rayyan F. Sinuhaji
Chemical Engineering Department Faculty Engineering, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan 20155, Indonesia
Keywords: Energy, Productivity, Palm-Sugar.
Abstract: A study on energy productivity ratio (EPR) in producing aren sugar (palm sugar) from nira solution of aren
trees is the result of this paper. This study was based on the energy ratio of the input energy in comparison to
the output energy in processing nira solution become palm sugar. Calculations were based on the data obtained
through literature survey of nira processing into palm sugar traditionally in many parts of village areas in
Indonesia. The major output energy was based on the palm sugar product compared to the input energy based
on all nira price, used energy, and depreciation of instruments used. The EPR result as palm sugar product is
> 3.0 for the utilization of nira solution from aren trees. The EPR result is positive information on the potential
to develop the product in factory scale. It is an indication that the palm sugar product from aren trees is an
energetically reasonable business enterprise based on EPR. The nira of aren tree has potential as raw material
in producing the sugar.
1 INTRODUCTION
Aren tree or sugar palm plant (Arrenga pinnata
Merr.) is a very potential plantation crop in terms of
overcoming food shortages and easily adapting to
various agro-climate, starting from lowland to 1,400
m above sea level. The main products of aren as the
result of nira tapping are palm sugar, beverage,
vinegar and alcohol. In addition, sugar palm plants
can be produced intofood products such as: kolang-
kaling from the ripe female fruit and sugar palm flour
for food ingredient in the form of cakes, breads, and
biscuits that come from processing the stem part of
the plant (Effendi, 2010).
Coconut nira is a part of coconut plant that is
widely developed as coconut sugar (Pratama et al.,
2015). Palm sugar is the product of the concentration
of palm sugar with heat (cooking) until the water
content is very low (<6%) so that the product hardens
when it is cold. Making palm sugar is almost the same
as making palm syrup. The sap is heated until thick.
After that, the thick liquid sugar is poured into the
mold and left until it is cold. Making palm sugar is
also easy and can be done using simple equipment.
The sugar produced from processing is very helpful
in increasing people’s income. So far, the palm sugar
industry is still a sideline, especially by rural
communities (Radam and Rezekiah, 2015).
The demand of aren palm sugar granules is
growing rapidly due to its ease in use, handle,
package, storage and it contains more complete
nutrition than cane sugar. One of the important
nutients of palm sugar granules is the various
minerals. The EDX analysis shows that the mineral
content of aren palm sugar consist of potassium (2%),
sodium (0.05%), magnesium (0.04%), calcium
(0.01%), iron (0.11%), copper (0.75%), zinc
(0,.46%), manganese (0.08%) and chromium
(0.11%). Because of these advantages, palm sugar
granules become popular and demanded by
developed countries (Iskandar et al., 2014).
356
Haryanto, B., Khosman, H., Hasibuan, A., Wijaya, F., Herfayati, P. and F. Sinuhaji, T.
Energy Productivity Ratio (EPR) in Producing Aren Sugar from Nira Aren Tree: Traditional Processing.
DOI: 10.5220/0009204203560359
In Proceedings of the 2nd Economics and Business International Conference (EBIC 2019) - Economics and Business in Industrial Revolution 4.0, pages 356-359
ISBN: 978-989-758-498-5
Copyright
c
 2021 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

Figure 1. Aren Tree (Kartika et al., 2013)
Figure 2. The scheme of making traditional palm sugar and
ant sugar (Soetedjo and Suharto, 2009).
2 METHODOLOGY
In conducting this study, the required data has been
collected, searching for the equal energy of dregs aren
and aren sugar in calculating the value of energy
productivity ratio (EPR) based on ton/year. The EPR
of a product can be defined as the ratio of primary
product energy plus its by-product energy compared
to the total energy of raw materials, electricity and
other energy used and the processing tool
depreciation. The calculation is based on the
production capacity per year (Haryanto, 2000;
Haryanto et al., 2018a). Ratio energy from
ingredients biofuel can be applied as ratio of non-
renewable Energy that be used on the value of energy
production from fuel and some utility product side.If
energy output : energy input is 1 > 1 then the
production of the renewable fuel or a product could
be continued, but if the ratio energy 1 < 1 then
production of the product resulted in net loss, and
declared as not defined source of renewable energy or
the product (Batchelor et al., 1995).To calculate EPR,
the equations that be used are (Haryanto et al.,
2018b).
(1)
(2)
Study related to EPR was reported based on price
of 1 liter diesel is Rp. 8,000.- (Pertamina cost) with
equal energy is 42.96 MJ/kg (Pertamina, 2018; Felten
et al., 2013). In his study the EPR energy base on 1
kg firewood equal to 14.4 MJ/kg (Francescato et al.,
2008).
Figure 3. Research steps : collecting data, equal energy
quantity and EPR calculation (Haryanto et al., 2019)
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
1. Material requirements and utilities
Table 1. The information of material
requirements and utilities in producing aren sugar
No
Material
Requirements
and Utili
t
ies
Total
1
N
ira Aren 500 liters/da
y
2Wate
r
800 liters/da
y
3 Electricity 70 kW/day
4 Firewood
1 m
3
/da
y
2. Material Prices
Table 2. The information of material prices in
producing aren sugar
N
o Material Prices Total
1 Nira Aren
Rp.
2,000/lite
r
2 Firewood
Rp.
30,900/m
3
3. Equipment Prices
Table 3. The information of equipment prices in
producing aren sugar
No
N
ame of
Equipmen
t
Tool Prices
1 Evaporato
r
Rp. 20,000,000
2Cr
y
stallize
r
Rp. 15,000,000
3
Packing
Machine
Rp. 4,500,000
The usage period of the three tools is estimated to
be around 5 years.
Energy Productivity Ratio (EPR) in Producing Aren Sugar from Nira Aren Tree: Traditional Processing
357

The total depreciation value of the three above
tools is calculated and obtained at Rp. 33.450.000,-
4. Input Energy
Table 4. The information of input energy in
producing aren sugar
No Input Resources
Priceor
Ener
gy
Use
d
1
Price of Nira
Aren 150,000
liters
Rp. 300,000,000
2 Electricit
y
/Yea
r
21,000 kWh
3 Firewoo
d
300 m
3
4
Depreciation of
Equipmen
t
Rp. 33,450,000
Energy base = 1 kg firewood = 14.4 MJ/kg
1 m
3
firewood = 650 kg = Rp. 30,900.-
1 kg firewood = Rp. 30,900/650 kg = Rp.47.5/kg
 Energyfrom nira aren 150,000 liters/year:
Energy 
Rp. 300,000,000. 
Rp. 47.5 /kg
14.4 MJ/kg
Energy  90,947,368,4 MJ
 Electrical energy used per year:
21,000 kWh  3,6
MJ
kWh
 75,600 MJ
 Energy from firewoods:\
300 m

 650 kg/m

Rp.47,5/kg
 Rp. 9,262,500. 
Energi 
Rp. 33,450,000. 
Rp. 47.5/kg
 14,4 MJ/kg
 Energy from depreciation:
Energy 
Rp. 33,450,000. 
Rp. 47.5/kg
14.4 Mj/kg
Tabel 5. The information of input resources from
input energy in producing aren sugar
N
o Input Resources Energy Used
(MJ/Years)
1 Price of Nira
Aren 150,000
liters
90,947,368.4
2 Electricit
y
/Yea
r
75,600
3 Firewoo
d
2,808,000
4 Depreciation of
Equipmen
t
10,140,631.58
Total 103,971,600
5. Output energy
The selling price of sugar products produced:
 In a day, number of packages can be
produced is:
112 packs (500 grams packaging), with
a selling price per pack of Rp. 16,000.-
56 packs (1 kilogram packaging), with a
selling price per pack of Rp. 30,000.-
 In a year, number of packages can be
produced is:
112 packs × 300 = 33,600 packs
56 packs × 300 = 16,800 packs
 Selling price:
33,600 packs × 16,000 = Rp. 537,600,000.-
16,800 packs × 30,000 = Rp. 504,000,000.-
Total selling price = Rp. 1,041,600,000.-
Table 6. The information of output resources from
output energy in producing sugar aren
N
o Output
Resources
Energy Used
1Aren
Sugar
(Crystal
Shape)
Rp.
1,041,600,000
 Energy produced by palm sugar
𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 
𝑅𝑝. 1,041,600,000. 
𝑅𝑝. 47.5/𝑘𝑔
 14.4 𝑀𝐽/𝑘𝑔
Energy  315,769,263 MJ
Tabel 7. The information of output
energy in produced palm sugar
N
o Output
Resources
Energy
(MJ/
y
ear)
1Aren Su
g
a
r
315,769,263
Total 315,769,263
6. Calculation of EPR
 From the calculation above, the total input
and output energy values have been
obtained. Then the EPR calculations can be
done using the formula:
EPR 
Output product

Input  by product

 In the process of making palm sugar, by
product = 0, thus:
EBIC 2019 - Economics and Business International Conference 2019
358

EPR 
Output product
input

315,769,263
103,971,600
 3.037
 From the calculation result,the EPR value
obtained is 3.037.
 Which means that EPR>1. This means that
the energy produced by output is greater than
the energy needed for input, which indicates
that factory production is profitable for the
company.
4 CONCLUSION
The value of energy productivity ratio (EPR) in this
study result is based on input to input and input to
output the EPR was 3.037. Base on the value of the
EPRs show that processing Palm Sugar from Nira in
this traditional processing is feasible to be operated
and developed into a factory because it gives profit to
the company.
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Energy Productivity Ratio (EPR) in Producing Aren Sugar from Nira Aren Tree: Traditional Processing
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