Blend fuel back on market

company announced this week that about 12 fuel stations were already selling blend fuel, a mixture of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent petroleum.
The ethanol component will replace imports in equal measure, saving the country foreign currency and cushioning it from global price shocks.
Petrol blending will also enable dealers to cut significantly on the costs of transportation and reduce constraints associated with importation of petrol.

Before GreenFuel’s ethanol came on the scene, petrol prices averaged US$1,42 per litre, but prices have significantly come down to US$1,36 per litre at filling stations that are blending petrol.
“What has also been a point of motivation towards our product has been the lower price on our blend and the desire by most motorists to use clean local, environmentally friendly fuel,” the company said in a statement.

Blend is now available at BP Fourth Street, Shell Belgravia, Shell Chase Motors (Mt Pleasant, BP Enterprise Road, Newlands, BP Groombridge, Shell Haddon Motors, BP Helensvale Service Station and BP Kentucky Service Station (Hatfield).
The product is also available at BP Lorraine, Bluff Hill, BP Marimba, BP Matlock, Southerton and Shell Pomona. Discussions with other dealers are in progress.

Blending of petrol had stopped in 1992 due to drought, which meant there was little raw material to process into ethanol. GreenFuel, following partnership with Government, resumed production at its Chisumbanje plant, using the latest technology acquired from Brazil.
Anhydrous ethanol has a high octane rating. Octane refers to the power fuel has. The octane number of fuel is a measure of its ability to prevent engine knock.

The higher the octane rating in fuel, the safer a car is from engine knocks. Anhydrous Ethanol enhances petroleum, protecting engines from knocking.
Ethanol cleans the engine over time, especially harmful combustion chamber deposits. It dissolves any fuel line and fuel tank water, which are sources of corrosion, and eliminates them from the exhaust pipe of the vehicle.

In addition, the higher octane of the ethanol blend allows new cars with higher compression ratio to run without changing refinery operations.
“The addition of ethanol to fossil petroleum improves engine performance and lowers emissions. Anhydrous Ethanol burns clean and it is a ready-to-use fuel that can be blended directly into petroleum,” said GreenFuel.

GreenFuel last week said its Chisumbanje plant was currently processing 2 500 tonnes of cane into daily ethanol output with volumes reaching 180 000 litres per day.
With further investment in capacity, GreenFuel expects to produce 1,5 billion litres of ethanol annually, equating to 150 percent of total local fuel consumption.

Pressure is mounting on governments to honour the Kyoto Protocol – an international agreement under the ambit of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Kyoto Protocol set binding targets for industrialised countries and the European community to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Large economies such as China, USA and Brazil have taken up ethanol production to address the twin concerns of global warming and uncertainty over sustainable fuel supply from traditional fossil fuels.