Standards sufficient for ethanol gasoline
26-SEP-2008 Intellasia | Saigon Times Daily page 3
Sep 26, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
|
Vietnam now has sufficient standards for ethanol gasoline but the Ministry of Industry and Trade has blamed on the lack of such standards to order an oil trader to suspend the pilot sale of this environmentally friendly fuel widely to the public.
Just five days after PetroVietnam Biogas Joint Stock Co (PVB), a unit of PV Oil, launched the fuel Gasohol E5 on September 15 at two filling stations in Hanoi, the ministry told the company to stop the widespread sale.
Nguyen Phu Cuong, deputy head of the ministry's Science and Technology Department, who signed a decision permitting the trial scheme, said PVB had broken its promise of selling the fuel to members of the Hanoi Taxi Association only.
The company was not allowed to sell to other users than taxicabs chosen for the test until March 2009. But motorcyclists could also buy the fuel for it cost only 16,500 dong per litre, 500 dong lower than the popular type A92.
Le Thanh Thai, sales manager of PVB, admitted the violation of the approved roadmap for the scheme but said the fact that the ministry attributed the suspension partly to the absence of norms for the use of ethanol gasoline was not convincing.
Speaking to reporters in Hanoi over the weekend, deputy minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu said a national set of norms for this kind of fuel was not available, so more time was needed to gauge how much it would impact on the environment.
However, no other countries set norms for gasoline mixed with ethanol, said Luu Quang Thai, chair of Dong Xanh Co., which owns an ethanol factory in Dai Loc in the central province of Quang Nam.
Other nations just have separate standards for gasoline and ethanol, he said, adding they also required different mixture ratios.
Vietnam, he said, already has standards for gasoline and those for ethanol. Moreover, government Decree 55 on fuel trading refers to the country's current standards. And prime ministerial Decision 117 encourages companies to use the standards of Group of Seven (G7) industrialised economies if Vietnam has no such standards.
Ngo Quy Viet, head of the Vietnam directorate for Standards and Quality, said ethanol gasoline could affect the performance of engines, so a careful evaluation was needed before mass sale.
The directorate is looking at other countries to draw on experience and see whether or it is necessary to set standards for this bio-fuel, he said.
Gasohol E5 comprises 5% ethanol and 95% A92 fuel.
|
| |
|  |
|
Advertising
