Difference between revisions of "Fuel adulteration"

Latest revision as of 03:36, 13 October 2013

Rubbish being burnt on a Kolkata street.

Some Indian taxis and auto-rickshaws run on adulterated fuel blends. Adulteration of gasoline and diesel with lower-priced fuels is common in South Asia, including India.^[1] Some adulterants increase emissions of harmful pollutants from vehicles, worsening urban air pollution. Financial incentives arising from differential taxes are generally the primary cause of fuel adulteration. In India and other developing countries, gasoline carries a much higher tax than diesel, which in turn is taxed more than kerosene meant as a cooking fuel, while some solvents and lubricants carry little or no tax.

As fuel prices rise, the public transport driver cuts costs by blending the cheaper hydrocarbon into highly taxed hydrocarbon. The blending may be as much as 20-30 percent. For a low wage driver, the adulteration can yield short term savings that are significant over the month; kerosene is also higher octane than regular gasoline. However, there are negative consequences to long term air pollution, quality of life and effect on health. The mix reduces the life of the vehicles' engines and increases maintenance costs; more common if the taxi, auto-rickshaw or truck is being rented for a daily fee.

Adulterated fuel increases tailpipe emissions of hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). Air toxin emissions — which fall into the category of unregulated emissions — of primary concern are benzene and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), both well known carcinogens. Kerosene is more difficult to burn than gasoline; its addition results in higher levels of HC, CO and PM emissions even from catalyst-equipped cars. The higher sulfur level of kerosene is another issue.

The permissible level of fuel sulfur in India, in 2002, was 0.25 percent by weight as against 0.10 percent for gasoline. The higher levels of sulfur can deactivate the catalyst. Once the catalyst becomes deactivated, the amount of pollution from the vehicle dramatically increases. Fuel adulteration is essentially an unintended consequence of tax policies and the attempt to control fuel prices, in the name of fairness. Air pollution is the ultimate result. This problem is not unique to India, but prevalent in many developing countries including those outside of south Asia. This problem is largely absent in economies that do not regulate the ability of fuel producers to innovate or price based on market demand.

Yashwant Sonawane, the Additional District Collector of Malegaon, was allegedly burnt alive by an oil adulteration mafia at Manmad near Nashik.^[2][3][4] On 27 January 2011, two days after Sonawane was burnt alive, authorities in Maharashtra carried out raids at nearly 200 places, arresting around 180 people in an attempt to crack down on the oil adulteration mafia.^[5] Plans were laid to add an improved chemical marker to kerosene to make mixing with diesel more difficult. ^[6]The accused in Sonawe's death, Popat Shinde, died of a cardiac arrest caused due to complications of burn injuries.^[7] It was later claimed that Sonawante was being bribed by his alleged killer. ^[8]

After Shanmugam Manjunath was also murdered for sealing a corrupt petrol station in UP, one of the policy remedies being considered was to minimize the subsidy in the price of kerosene (used as cooking and lighing fuel by the poor, and to explore alternate mechanisms for implementing the subsidy. Subsequently, several tanker trucks, laden with thousands of liters of kerosene, were seized en route to a district neighbouring Lakhimpur Kheri ^[9].

Kerosene subsidies in India were subsequently involved in the decision to implement the distribution of solar powered lanterns in India. By 2012 46,00,000 solar lanterns and 861,654 solar powered home lights have been installed. These typically replace kerosene lamps and can be purchased for the cost of a few months worth of kerosene through a small loan. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is offering a 30% to 40% subsidy for the cost of lanterns, home lights and small systems up to 210 Wp.^[10] 20 million solar lamps are expected by 2022.^[11]

As much as 39% of subsidised kerosene is stolen.^[12][12]

Projects such as the Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project aim to help rural households in remote areas which do not have electricity, and currently use kerosene lamps which are a fire hazard, provide poor light and emit fumes that cause respiratory problems. MPRLP has been working with the government agency, the Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam (MPUVN)^[13] to provide solar lighting to project villages in the remote Sheopur District. MPRLP works with Gram Sabhas to explain the benefits of solar lighting to villagers and encourage them to take part in the Government of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MRNE)^[14] scheme through MPUVN. As of August 2010, solar lights had been installed through the MPUVN under the MRNE scheme in 1279 households in 13 villages at a cost of Rs11,750 per household. For every ten households covered by the programme, a street light was also installed.Solar lights mean that people can work and socialise during the evenings. Women can cook safely, children can study and village meetings can be held.

Links[edit]

This article contains content from Wikipedia, but there is no article there under this name or any similar