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Euro-hit auto industry turns the tables on critics, presses for clean fuel

The automobile industry in India today reinforced an immediate need for improvement in fuel quality in order to achieve any significant improvement in air quality.

Especially in case of diesel, the immediate task would be to reduce the sulphur content of diesel from current level of 0.5 per cent to 0.05 per cent.

Speaking on the issue, Venu Srinivasan, president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said, ''Optimal configuration of fuel components is essential to ensure minimal emissions. Government efforts to provide low sulphur diesel, total phase-out of leaded petrol and monitoring of fuel supply chain are most critical at this juncture. It is only then that we will be able to significantly improve the quality of air in India.''

Today, 70 per cent of diesel available in Britain is ultra low sulphur diesel or ULSD, that is 0.005 per cent of sulphur level. Other west European countries like Germany and Holland are rapidly moving towards this level of desulphurisation. Countries like Sweden have already switched to diesel with 0.001 per cent sulphur. In sharp contrast, in India, current availability of diesel has sulphur content of 0.5 per cent for the entire country and 0.25 per cent for the Taj trapezium and metros.

This implies that there is an immediate need for an intervention from the government to review its standards of fuel quality in India.

Internationally, 0.05 per cent sulphur content in diesel has been accepted and implemented since 1993 in US and the European Commission, in the same year, ruled that from October 1996, the maximum sulphur in diesel fuel should be 0.05 per cent. Further, based on the outcome of auto oil programme, EU intends to limit sulphur content to 0.035 per cent from year 2000 and from 2005, only fuels containing a maximum of 0.005 per cent by weight sulphur content will be permitted in Europe.

For petrol, as per EU directives, benzene content would be one per cent by volume from the year 2000 as against the five per cent proposed in the corresponding year by Indian standards. Moreover, octance number of gasoline, which has a positive influence in emission level and fuel consumption as well avoiding knocking, is currently much lower in India than the corresponding levels in Europe.

Srinivasan bemoaned the fact that fuel quality standards are not keeping pace with the emission norms being stpulated by the authorities. He added that the SIAM is encouraged by the fact that the private oil companies have taken the lead in offering supply fuel of Euro II standards. Moreover, fuel quality has the maximum direct impact on the huge population of in use vehicles, thus creating a positive impact on the air quality in India.

The SIAM is an apex national association representing leading vehicle and vehicular engine manufacturers.

UNI

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