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The National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) has commended the new standards recently adopted by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) on the maximum sulphur levels allowed in petroleum fuels in the country.
Recall that SON, after due consultations with relevant stakeholders, recently adopted the new standards which reduced the maximum sulphur levels of petroleum fuels allowed in the country.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, the Director-General, NADDC, Engineer Aminu Jalal, described the reduction in the sulphur levels of petroleum fuels in Nigeria as an indication of the country’s determination to join the rest of the world in advocating for the use of cleaner fuels as a way of reducing emissions levels that pollute the environment.
According to the new standards scheduled to take effect from July 1, 2017, Diesel fuel (AGO) should have maximum Sulphur levels of 50 parts per million (ppm) (Reference NIS 948:2017).
The new directive also stipulates that Petroleum Motor Spirit (Petrol) should have maximum Sulphur levels of 150 ppm (Reference NIS 116:2017). In the same manner, Household Kerosine (HHK) should have maximum Sulphur levels of 150 ppm (Reference NIS 949:2017).
Jalal said sulphur in petroleum fuels results in vehicle exhaust emissions that have negative health and environmental impacts, maintaining that harmful emission reducing technologies in vehicles also require low sulphur fuels to be effective.
According to the NADDC boss, petroleum fuels that have high sulphur levels generate directly high emission levels in automotive engines even as he stressed that such vehicle emissions contain high level of toxic pollutants such as benzenes and particulates that have negative impacts on human health and on the environment.
He noted that technically, modern vehicles require fuels that meet high quality standards for a more efficient operation of their engines.
