Comparison of DME (Dimethyl Ether) and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) Utilisation for Household Sector

Abstract

As a developing country, currently Indonesia's household sector relies heavily on LPG as its main fuel. Since the dissemination of LPG as fuel for the household sector in 2008, the demand for LPG continues to increase. The Handbook of Energy and Economic Statistics of Indonesia shows the LPG consumption increased nearly fourfold by 2017. However, the increased of LPG demand has burdened state budget because LPG mostly is imported. According to BPPT Indonesia Energy Outlook, in 2015 Indonesia imported LPG more than 64% of LPG supply. To overcome this issue, Indonesia has promoted the use of alternative energy such as DME (Dimethyl Ether) and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas). The DME and LNG have very different characteristics. Therefore, this paper is aimed to review the utilisation of DME and LNG for household sector in terms of its properties, source and handling. The review shows that compared to LNG the DME has closer characteristics to LPG so it is safe to use and easy to handle. In addition, the source for DME raw materials is very numerous. However, the disadvantage of DME is low heating value. The heating values of DME and LNG are 28.8 MJ/kg and 50.2 MJ/kg respectively.