Adding dirty fuel to fire

Not surprisingly, environmentalists and automobile manufacturers have diagonally opposite views on the issue. Manufacturers term diesel-driven cars as the future of the automobile industry. Environmentalists call the fuel a health hazard, and their target are the diesel-driven cars. As such, they point out, the country produces low-quality, high-pollutingdiesel. To make it available to the rich then, who can afford the costlier petrol, to run their cars when the city is grappling with pollution is criminal, they say.

With the Government scheduled to announce a cut in the price of diesel in the coming year, the debate is sure to hot up even more. At the same time, it is also true that modern diesel engines offer higher fuel economy and the emissions from these have come down drastically over the past few years. According to V.M. Raval, president of the Association of Indian Automobile Manufacturers AIAM: 8220;Modern diesel engines are as environment-friendly as contemporary petrol engines and meet stringent emission norms.8221; Raval is referring here to an engine that meets the Euro 1 norms, which the Indian automobile industry is geared to meet by 2000.

But the quality of diesel used in the country is rather poor containing 0.25 per cent sulphur in the Capital and 0.5 per cent in the rest of the country. So, it is a source of highly toxic air pollutants,beginning with suspended particulate matter SPM. According to the Centre for Science and Environment CSE, diesel is responsible for 100 per cent of the SPM produced from vehicles. To make it worse, diesel consumption in India increased by about 42 per cent between 1991-92 and 1995-96. And to meet an ever-increasing demand for the fuel, Indian refineries are producing even more low-quality diesel.

A CSE report points out that diesel produces the finest category of SPM, which goes deep into the lungs and causes cancer and other diseases. Quoting the findings of recent research in the UK, the CSE says that 90 per cent of diesel particles are less than one-millionth of a metre in size and are considered extremely hazardous. These particles are coated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAC, some of which are highly carcinogenic.

Moreover, most nitrogen oxide NOx in diesel is nitrogen dioxide, which is very harmful for the lungs. It is also a precursor to the formation of ozone. To curb the emissionof NOx, some European countries have introduced de-Nox converters similar to the catalytic converters in petrol engines which convert NOx emissions into harmless gases. But the technology to control diesel emissions is still at a preliminary stage the world over.

According to the AIAM, if the sulphur content in diesel can be maintained below 0.05 per cent, against the 0.25 per cent in Delhi and 0.5 per cent in the rest of the country, SPM emissions from diesel vehicles can be brought down considerably. The best diesel in the world produced in Sweden is 250 times cleaner and contains 0.001 per cent sulphur. All over Europe, the maximum level of sulphur currently allowed is 0.05 per cent, which will go down further by 2000. According to the CSE, if 0.05 per cent sulphur content diesel is introduced in the Capital, SPM emissions will go down by 17.4 per cent in the case of heavy commercial vehicles HCVs and 3.2 per cent in the case of light vehicles.

However, if the country was to import such cleanerdiesel say one containing 0.05 per cent sulphur for Delhi alone, according to Ecotraffic Stockholm, it will have to pay around Rs 18 to Rs 26 crore more per year as per the diesel consumption of the Capital in 1996-97, which stood at 1.291 million tonnes.

Environmentalists feel if this cleaner diesel is imported, it should go to the public transport system and agriculture, and not to the affluent passenger car owners. More so, because the Government policy has been to keep the price of petrol high so that diesel8217;s on which most of India8217;s public transport system and agricultural machinery run could be kept low. Why should the rich enjoy a benefit not meant for them, ask the Greens.

But the AIAM dismisses this viewpoint, saying that it would be unfair to ban a technology just because the Government has deliberately priced petrol higher. The EPCA, for its part, has suggested a cess on diesel bought for non-commercial vehicles.

But are diesel vehicles really that polluting? The answer is yes andno. As mentioned earlier, high sulphur content does make them hazardous. And considering that the diesel consumption in Delhi was 2.7 times more than petrol in 1996-97, there is certainly a need to curtail the harmful pollution caused by it. On the other hand, diesel vehicles have proved to be not just more fuel-efficient as compared to petrol engines but they also emit lower carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. Moreover, they offer sustainable emission performance over a longer period of time. Even the NOx emitted from the exhaust remains constant during the lifecycle of a diesel engine, whereas it increases in the case of petrol engines.

Automobile experts also note that modern diesel engines don8217;t need any 8220;extra8221; maintenance, as compared to petrol ones. According to Rajat Nandi, Executive Director, AIAM, diesel-driven HCVs cause pollution mostly due to overloading, poor road conditions, poor traffic management, bad maintenance and poor fuel quality. 8220;Switching to CNG can solve much of this problem,8221; heclaims.

Above this, the AIAM maintains that the percentage of all diesel vehicles is already very small, and decreasing. While in 1996-97, 11.3 per cent of the total cars sold in Delhi were diesel-driven, the ratio fell to 9.9 in 1997-98 and was 8.3 per cent during the first half of the current financial year.

But this fall is driven more by recession than anything else. And with the arrival of the Tata Indica, the number of these cars is sure to rise. Already there are around 19 non-commercial diesel-driven vehicles in the market including 12 passenger cars, five three-wheelers and a two-wheeler model. Clearly, if diesel technology per se is no 8220;evil8221;, the solution lies more in discouraging the purchase of non-commercial diesel vehicles rather than in banning a technology.