Ethanol Fuel - Contamination and Matters Arising
The recent pronouncement by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) at a workshop in Lagos that ethanol fuel is good and reliable for firing of automobile engines in Nigeria, may have finally laid to rest controversies over its application as fuel in the country.
Controversies had emanated after a petition by the Consumers Protection Council (CPC) was received by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) over complaints by motorists that fuel purchased from some filling stations had damaged carburettors of their cars.
The contaminated fuel was later discovered by the DPR in the storage tanks of some of the leading petroleum marketing companies, not before, which means that contamination happened onshore. In response, stakeholders have been blaming international oil traders importing petroleum products for the major marketers and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for bringing ethanol into the country.
It is, therefore, necessary to query the thinking that an international trader benefiting from juicy fuel importation contract will jeopardise its business by bringing a contaminated product into the country and deny itself of vast opportunities available in terms of rising demand requirement for PMS which the local refineries cannot be able to satisfy until there is expansion of the refining capacity and commencement of operation by some of the private refineries licensed by the Federal Government.
In the past few weeks, international traders have also become the target of several operators that view that award of crude oil lifting and fuel importation as the right mainly of local traders whether or not they have the capacity to do it technically and financially.
Experts have also been worried to accept the position that one of the international traders being blamed for bringing the high content ethanol into the country could on its own do it to thwart its own business.
This position is questionable because the same company brought 50 cargoes of PMS blend into the country over the last 12 months with big vessels at the same time and all were transhipped and discharged at the depots of marketers without contamination except the balance from one of the lighter vessels. Even though, the international traders have been blamed, the balance from the big vessel where the lighter vessel lifted ethanol fuel for marketers have also been proved to be safe and reliable for utilisation by motorists.
Hence, the need for proper education on the role of international traders in fuel importation as well as handling of ethanol fuel by petroleum marketing companies in the light of associated benefits.
The Federal Government launched the ethanol fuel programme in 2004 with the aim of reducing pollution in the environment by fossil fuel. Fossil fuels are also responsible for the release of poisonous gases like carbon dioxide and sulphur monoxide to the atmosphere.
The programme led by NNPC target December 2006 as the deadline for the use of ethanol fuel in the country. It also targets the blending of 10 per cent ethanol with 90 per cent premium motor spirit (PMS) as the starting point for the programme. The achievement of this feat was also to enable Nigeria satisfy the Kyoto Protocol.
It was, therefore, a thing of joy for stakeholders that the importation of ethanol fuel will reduce pollution of the environment and eliminate scarcity associated with dependency mainly on PMS whenever there is volatility in the international market. Studies made by experts in Minnesota, United States of America also revealed that the application of ethanol fuel in cars also prolong its lifespan.
Source: allAfrica.com
Tags: alternative fuel, Nigeria, petroleum