SOME IMPORTANT MEASURES
TO CONTROL FUEL ADULTERATION

9.0 SOME IMPORTANT MEASURES TO CONTROL FUEL ADULTERATION

Some important measures to control fuel adulteration are listed below:

» An important step in tackling fuel adulteration is reducing incentives and opportunities for adulteration. Though it is generally recognized that eliminating pricing differential is the most effective method of controlling adulteration, it will be difficult to eliminate differences among such a wide variety of fuels and solvents meant for different usages.

» Checking adulteration requires a credible monitoring and surveillance system. To ensure that the engine can give the desired performance including low emissions, it is necessary to ensure the fuel quality at the consumer end, which can be achieved by appropriate surveillance programs.

» Any anti-adulteration programme should be backed up by sound financial and legal framework. The fiscal framework should take into account-associated costs like monitoring & testing infrastructure. Policy for imposing severe penalty & exemplary punishment to the adulterators needs to be imbibed into legal framework to discourage adulteration.

» The manner in which retail fuels are distributed has an important bearing on fuel adulteration. For example, having large numbers of small, independent transport trucks operators moving fuels from terminals to the point of sale creates an environment conducive to adulteration. One effective "market based" approach is the practice in many industrialized countries whereby oil companies market at retail and assume responsibility throughout the supply chain to guarantee fuel quality in order to protect their public image and market share.
» One of the acceptable internationally accepted method for detecting and thereby preventing adulteration of fuels is the use of markers. A number of chemical and biochemical markers are available in the international market. Some of them are dyes, one of which is already being used in India to mark SKO (Superior Kerosene Oil) used for PDS (Public Distribution System).

» The Standard fuel test method being used today when properly executed should be able to give acceptable results. Precision and repeatability could be improved by setting up programmes for cross checking inter-laboratory variability.

» In Industrial countries, practices of adulteration are expected to be less or rare today; in part because public pressure has led most oil companies to take public image seriously and socially responsible behavior is considered as integral part of good business. Thus a culture of "Good Business" needs to be developed within the concerned industry to eradicate adulteration via awareness raising by Government organizations, NGOs, and citizens groups; independent checks by universities and research institutes to "name & shame" those who are not in compliance; efforts by trade associations to identify those retailers that comply in order to "upgrade" the market; international pressure on large oil companies operating in developing countries; and greater effort by governments to monitor and enforce regulations.

» Use of alternative fuels which are less prone to adulteration, can play a positive role in minimizing adulteration. Thus, promoting use of cleaner fuels like CNG, LPG etc can prove effective in dealing with adulteration.

» Taking & maintaining samples for checking fuel quality is not easy. Finding proper sample containers and not being personally harassed at retail outlets while sampling are just two of the very real operational problems to be resolved