Gas chromatography test on automobile fuel from Oct.

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, SEPT. 21. Consumer bodies, in association with the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, intend to conduct gas chromatography and mass spectrometry tests on automobile fuel from the first week of October.

Starting with the retail outlets in the city, for which the samples are to be drawn at random, the tests will be extended to other parts of the State also. Nearly 450 samples will be tested for quality and presence of adulterants that cause damage to the motor vehicle engine and spoil the ambient air quality. The tests are to be conducted at the Indian Institute of Technology here.

The results will be submitted to the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ms. Sheela Rani Chunkath, TNPCB Chairperson, said at a conference on evolving strategies for improving fuel quality and controlling vehicular pollution. The two-day meet, which began today, was being organised by Concert, a consumer body, in association with the IAE, the SAE, the USAEP and the TNPCB. She said the Ministry should make it mandatory to conduct these tests.

Speaking about the consumer concerns on fuel quality, Mr. R. Desikan, Trustee, Concert, said the refineries were too tolerant of variations in the quality standard. Wondering what was preventing the oil companies from supplying the composition of each batch loaded onto the oil-tankers supplying to retail outlets, he said it was the manufacturer's responsibility to ensure that quality product reached the end-user.

The conference also saw a company giving details of a global positioning system for oil-tanker lorries.

Aimed at preventing adulteration, particularly curbing the practice of mixing adulterants and pilferage in-transit, the system could also be used for monitoring the speed at which the vehicle was driven.

The online security system, based on tracking technology for moving assets, enables the users - ideal for oil companies because of its costs - to get minute-to-minute information about the vehicle. It could be operated on either GPS or GSM or SMS or web or client server models, Mr. Rajashekar, Assistant vice- president, Infodesk Manipal, the company behind the system, said.

Speaking on the benefits of using the tamper-proof Abloy locks on the oil-tankers, Mr. A. R. Damodaran, former president, Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers Association, said until all tank lorries/dealers were provided with the Abloy locks, the vehicles would not be pilfer-proof.

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