By Uthman Salami
Following the alarm raised over damage of vehicles by imported Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) blended with methanol,
Investigations have dispelled the rumbling misconceptions over the dangers of PMS blended with methanol on cars in Nigeria. It would be recalled that PMS blended with methanol discovered by a petroleum marketing firm at its 8 filling stations were hurriedly isolated after a laboratory test for methanol revealed presence of 20 per cent content. This development had resulted in controversy and blame game.
Methanol Blending Technical Product Bulletin exclusively obtained by Nigerian NewsDirect describes Methanol as a clean burning high octane blending component for gasoline that is made from alternative non-petroleum energy sources such as natural gas, coal and biomass. It states that Methanol with co-solvents has been commercially blended into gasoline or PMS since the late 1970s of commercial experience and research. The bulletin explains also that unlike some alcohols, methanol blending in gasoline has been economical without government subsidies or fuel blending mandates.
Those who spoke with Nigerian NewsDirect were of the opinion that, indeed, methanol is a key component of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) in developed countries.
Hence, the experts advised the management of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ( NNPC) Limited to create awareness about the benefits of the product and encourage the utilisation through effective handling as a cleaner fuel source.
Outside Nigeria such as Europe, methanol remains a major source of fueling. For instance, in a scientific article published on the European Union Research and Innovative magazine, titled “Why Raising Alcohol Content of Europe’s fuels could reduce Carbon Emissions” written by Richard Gray, it was made clear that ethanol derived from plants, is one of the modern part of efforts to make the fuels in vehicles more environmentally friendly.
In key parts of Europe, an average PMS sold at pumps is a mixture of 5% bioethanol and 95% gasoline, denoted by an E5 label. In other countries, the level has moved to a new generation of fuel that contains up to 10% bioethanol otherwise known E-10.
Recently in Glasgow, President Muhammadu Buhari appended his commitment to global carbon emissions target of 2050, and as the world works to reduce its impact on climate change by cutting emissions from fossil fuels, Nigerians could key into the idea of ethanol for fueling.
In a research Christened by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) carried out to find out the costs and benefits of using a fuel containing 20% bioethanol, or E20 indicated that “The conclusion we have reached is that all the vehicles coming onto the market and those since 2011 should be able to handle fuels with up to 20% ethanol,” a senior standardization consultant at the Royal Netherlands Standardization Institute (NEN) Ortwin Costenoble, which led the project said.
Their findings further showed that “We were working on the basis that in 2030, countries would adopt E20 as the main source of fuel.”
Currently, the majority of EU member states use E5 petrol in their vehicles. Some countries, however, have started moving to E10.
“In January 2022, Denmark, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia became the latest countries to introduce E10 to their forecourts, bringing the total number of EU member states to sell the fuel at the majority of retail stations to 13.
“It is rather than unfortunate that companies are now being maligned, including the NNPC, for what can best be handled with proper education, especially as the GMD of NNPC Limited himself, in his press release said the product met the approved specifications for the country.”
Analysts argued, “What then is the wrong doing that has warranted all the media buzz, creating unnecessary panic and misinformation.
“It is therefore the opinion of industry analysts that no one should be reprimanded for the importation of PMS blended with Methanol. It’s just a bad batch of product which could happen anywhere in the world.”