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Standard & Specification Petrol

VARIOUS STANDARDS AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR PETROL
What the Indian government recommends for 2005 Europe has bettered in 2000
PARAMETERS

SPECIFICATIONS
 

India 20001

Mukhapadhyay committee 20052 Europe 20003 Europe 20053 USA RFG-34
Sulphur  
(per cent by weight)

0.015 

0.1-0.05 0.03 0.005 0.002
Aromatics 
(per cent by volume)

No limit

 45   42 35 25
Olefins    
(per cent by volume)

No limit

 18 18 14-16 6
Benzene  
(per cent by volume)

3-5

1 (in six metros)
1(rest of the country)

 1 1 0.8

A Note on the standards
1 The India 2000 specifications are presently in force. Similarly Europe 2000 specifications are in force across Europe.
2 The Mukhopadhyay Committee recommends the standards to be enforced from year 2005 which fall far short of the Europe 2005 specifications will come into play in 2005.
3 The RFG-3 standards are already in force in some regions of the US.The specifications are better than others proposed for future.

A Note on the parameters
1 Sulphur: An increase of even less than 1 per cent of sulphur in the fuel can increase particulate emissions drastically.
2 Benzene, other aromatics and olefins: Benzene is a known human carcinogen. Most other aromatics are also toxic which can react during combustion in the engine to form Benzene. Olefins pose a threat to public health as well. A small increase in the benzene and aromatic content in the fuel can be lethal.

Source:
1 A P Ram 2001, advisor (refineries), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Presentation on Fuel Quality trends in India, paper presented in Workshop on Automotive Technologies and Fuel Quality for Environmental Protection, Indian Oil Corporation (R&D Centre), Indian Institute of Petroleum Management, Gurgaon, January 15-17, 2001.
2 Anon 2001, Recommendations of Various Committees for Fuel Quality for year 2005, Central Pollution Control Board, January 31, 2001, mimeo.
3 D Visser 2001, Shell Global Solutions, The Netherlands, Clean Fuel Specifications Development and Impact on Refineries in Europe, paper presented in Workshop on Automotive Technologies and Fuel Quality for Environmental Protection, Indian Oil Corporation (R&D Centre), Indian Institute of Petroleum Management, Gurgaon, January 15-17, 2001.
4 Anon 2000, The California Reformulated Gasoline Regulations, Title 13, California Code of Regulations, Sections 2250-2273 (as last amended June 16, 2000), California Air resources Board,www.arb.ca.gov, as on January 29, 2001.

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