STATE TIMES NEWS JAMMU: Jammu & Kashmir Petroleum Dealers Association (JKPDA) on Friday said they should not be held responsible for breakdown of vehicles by use of ‘Ethanol-blend petrol’ as people were not aware about the precautions to be taken while using it. “The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, last month made it mandatory to blend petrol fuel with 10 percent Ethanol for use in vehicles,” said Anan Sharma, president JKPDA in a press conference here. “Ethanol blended oil requires a water free environment and Oil Companies and their petrol pumps have taken appropriate measures for converting their storages tanks and petrol pumps for ethanol blended fuel and these petrol pumps have ensured to be compatible with the 10% blended fuel besides being tight on water entry,” he said. “This is extremely important as ethanol gets bonded with water and pulls it up into the fuel. The water and ethanol mixture becomes heavy & settles to the bottom of the fuel tank leaving lighter gasoline on top and thereby becoming an obstacle in the smooth running of the vehicle,” he said. He asked customers whose vehicles are driven by petrol engines to take precautions as check fuel tank of the vehicle for any water content present in the fuel tank and clean fuel tank by a qualified mechanic. While servicing of the vehicle appropriate precautions need to be taken to prevent water entering into the fuel tank and keep vehicle covered while standing idle for long intervals especially during rainy season, he said adding that customers must check lid of the fuel tank to ensure its proper placement with the entry point of the fuel tank. “Ethanol blended fuel is cleaner and have higher octane number which provides increased power and performance than ordinary gasoline but they have higher evaporative emissions from fuel tanks thus requires frequent check of water content present in the fuel tank,” he said. “While at petrol pumps we take utmost care and all precautions in eradicating possibility of presence of water in the ethanol blended fuel on daily basis but our efforts will only be worthwhile and fruitful if customers also adhere to the guidelines as stated above and if a single drop of water exists in the oil tank of the vehicle the entire ethanol gets mixed with water particularly during the rainy season there is every apprehension of the rain drops to get slipped into the oil tanks of the vehicles which can create problem in the smooth running of the vehicle as it can lead to missing and the vehicle can come to a sudden halt,” he said adding that the responsibility of this phenomenon should be borne by the Oil Corporations only and the dealing retail outlets (Petrol pumps ) should not be held responsible for the same at any cost.
