Debunking the Myths around Door Delivery of Fuel

In a Tweet in late April, The Petroleum Minister mulled the possibility of delivering petro fuels to customer’s homes, which would help customers avoid spending excessive time and long queues at fuel stations.

MyPetrolpump, a Bangalore based startup, recognized by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotions (DIPP) under Government of India’s “Startup India” scheme, has taken initiative to solve this issue.

While this has met with largely a positive response, there are some concerns of safety which are being raised. We would like to address those to allay any fear among the people.

Is there a risk of fire from static electricity and other sources during delivery?

Virtually impossible! Diesel does not burn even in open fire at standard temperature & pressure conditions. For diesel to catch fire, it requires temperature in excess of 52 degree Celsius AND compressed air AND accumulated vapour in certain quantity AND 14.5/1 mixing ratio of air with fuel AND a source of ignition. Probability of these conditions to occur at same time and create fire during delivery of diesel fuel is virtually zero.

Statistically, In India over 2 Lakh petroleum fuel i.e. diesel tankers make over 2 crore trips annually on road. Not even a single accident reported in last five year has caused fire due to transportation of Diesel. These tankers are usually very large (20,000L) and are driven on highways and cities limits at high speed. Our miniature sub 1000 L refuellers driven only locally at lower city speed limits by certified and trained professionals. You have double the chances of winning a million-dollar lottery than chances of our refuellers causing a fire accident during delivery. Additionally, our refuellers are built to be electric continuous and earthed.

 

Is doorstep delivery of fuel safer than fuelling at Petrol pumps?

Yes it is! Doorstep delivery of Fuel like petrol/diesel is safer than fuelling at petrol pumps. Let’s think about it, when you go to petrol pump for filling your car, you expose yourself to a place where tens of thousands of liters of Petrol and Diesel are stored in decades old underground tanks. At Petrol pump, you also see tens of vehicles get filled simultaneously creating a constant presence of inflammable vapour in large quantity (you can smell it too). You also see several vehicles keeping their engine running while waiting to fill, all together creating a potential hazard for fire. Now imagine a vehicle carrying few hundreds of liters of fuels in airtight containers coming to deliver at your doorsteps. First, such small amount of fuel dispensed to your equipment reduces the vapour generation or accumulation to practically zero. Second, there are no potential fire source to cause ignition. These factors together nullify the possibility of any fire

Is there a risk of equipment exploding while refuelling?

There is no risk of explosion. There are over 5,00,000 vehicle accidents in the India per year from more than 200 million vehicles on the road? There are so few vehicle explosions per year that there is no statistics available and those known or reported are while transporting LPG in large tanks. Liquid fuel vehicles do not explode like they do in the movies. In Case of Diesel which not only require mixture with air but also compression to over 250 degrees Celsius to achieve ignition temperature reduces the possibility of fire or explosion to zero.

Is Doorstep refuelling a dangerous new concept?

Doorstep refueling neither a dangerous nor a new concept. Let’s compare with more hazardous Gas fuel, there is over 18 million metric tonnes of LPG consumption in India which is delivered to households every year. While LPG is a pressurized gas has the risk of a BLEVE (boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion), it is safely delivered to homes by more than thousands of small trucks that carry 2000 to 20000 liters of LPG, In comparison we carry the delivery of liquid fuel in small tanks of less than 1000L capacities. Diesel and Petrol are not pressurized and are much safer to transport, especially in small quantities.

We have tried to address few of the safety concerns regarding our fuel delivery services. If you have any other concerns please leave a comment below of write to us at info@mypetrolpump.com.