Finding the price tag for alternative fuel
British Petroleum (BP), as a major international oil company, has now developed an innovative system to accurately determine the end costs involved in bringing alternative fuel to pumping stations. In order to calculate end-user figures, behind the scene costs would need to be evaluated. Aside from the obvious costs of developing new infrastructure for dimethyl ether (DME) rather than standard petrol, such issues as transport and shipping would also need to be considered. For example, shipping costs would also need to incorporate the development of new facilities that could safely and surely store and transport DME to a European depot, and from there truck it to final outlet stations. Also, considerations such as size of storage and processing plants would need to be taken into account, as well as their location. One such case study (as developed under the AFFORHD project) placed a processing plant in Algeria. They based their calculations on a 1,500km travel to a depot in Italy and then a 150km road trip to a fuelling station, and predicted an end price of between 0.20 and 0.22euro/litre. Such figures were attained using LPGs as the basis (adjusted for the physical properties of DME) as their shipping, trucking and depot requirements are similar. It is to be noted that the predicted costs do not include surcharges and government taxes.
