India has recently achieved a crucial milestone in its journey towards self-sustainability by initiating the domestic production of ‘reference’ grade petrol and diesel. This significant step not only has the potential to fulfill the country’s internal requirements but also opens doors for India to explore the export market. Up until now, India’s need for reference fuels was primarily met by a handful of companies based in Europe and the US.
Understanding Reference Fuel
In the world of automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and institutions that deal with vehicle testing and certification, reference fuels play a pivotal role. They are high-value premium products specifically designed for calibrating and testing vehicles. These fuels possess higher specifications than the regular or premium variants used in typical vehicles.
The features of such fuel include specific factors like Cetane number, flash point, viscosity, sulfur and water content, hydrogen purity, and acid number. For instance, the octane number of reference grade petrol and diesel is 97, putting it much ahead of the octane numbers of regular (87) and premium (91) fuels.
Indigenous Production by Indian Oil Corporation
The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), breaking away from the nation’s historical dependence on imports to meet the requirement for these specialized fuels, has now successfully developed ‘reference’ grade petrol at its Paradip refinery in Odisha and diesel at the Panipat unit in Haryana. The Paradip refinery will produce the reference gasoline (petrol) fuels in various blends like E0, E5, E10, E20, E85, E100, while the Panipat refinery will be making the B7 grade of reference diesel fuel.
The Advantages of Local Production
One of the key benefits that stem from this development is the cost advantage. Imported ‘reference’ fuels command a price between Rs 800-850 per litre, but with domestic production, this cost is set to plunge to around Rs 450 per litre. This substantial cost advantage makes the switch to locally produced reference fuels an attractive proposition.
Additionally, this indigenous production will also benefit vehicle manufacturers by providing them with minimum lead time, and enabling import substitution at better prices.
Understanding Fuel Terminologies
In terms of fuel terminologies, the terms E0, E5, E10, E20, E85, E100 refer to different ethanol-gasoline blends, an approach aimed at reducing the carbon footprint and emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles. Diesel B7 denotes a fuel variant that consists of up to 7% biocomponents.
Other key fuel specifications include the octane number (measures fuel’s resistance to knocking), cetane number (indicates ignition quality of diesel), flash point (the lowest temperature where a substance vaporizes to ignite momentarily), viscosity (resistance to flow, with higher figures indicating less fluid-like behavior), and acid number (amount of acidic substance in the oil).