Seychelles to replace lead in petrol |25 February 2011

A safer, more environmentally-friendly additive called Valvemaster will, from the beginning of March, be mixed with petrol to replace what was formerly termed “leaded fuel”.

This will be done with the new fuel stock, as the current stock that is “doped” with tetra-ethyl lead (TEL) is phased out completely. 

A Sepec official said the company has tested Valvemaster in leaded fuel-driven engines, and the results have been good. The product is now used in Australia, South Africa and other countries as a substitute for lead, which protects vehicle engines.

Before the use of such additives as Valvemaster, especially in the last quarter of the 20th century, car engines were re-designed and the new ones no longer needed leaded fuel.

Leaded-fuel engines were gradually removed from circulation as new vehicles with “unleaded” designs were introduced.

In Seychelles it is taking longer for leaded fuel-driven engines to be phased out, and even now there are many older cars that need leaded petrol.

As world consumption of leaded petrol declined, refineries stopped producing it and made only the unleaded variety. Oil tankers also stopped transporting this product as it was seen to be a contaminant.

But many countries including Seychelles, with large numbers of vehicles still using leaded fuel, had no choice but to add the lead compound to petrol for their clients.

Octel – the supplier of TEL – provided Sepec with a lot of information about this chemical and also carried out training for the workers who were going to be involved directly in the decanting process.

Octel also advised on regular urine tests for workers involved in the “doping” exercise, conducted every six months with samples initially analysed in the Octel laboratory in the United Kingdom and later in the Saybolt laboratory in South Africa.

Sepec said that to date no one involved in the mixing exercise has exceeded the maximum amount of lead in their urine.
 
As with most organic compounds, TEL has an impact on people if the amount entering the circulatory system exceeds a certain amount, so great care has to be taken when handling this chemical.

In Seychelles, the number of cars using leaded petrol has fallen considerably over the years and use of leaded fuel has declined. In 2009, the consumption of gasoline was 17,717,314 litres, of which 5,030,526 litres were leaded – 28%.

Drivers on Praslin have been using the lead substitute since August last year, taken to the island by the Seychelles Paradise tanker. The fuel is mixed with Valvemaster just before delivery to the petrol stations.

Sepec said drivers can rest assured there will be no adverse effect on their vehicles, and they can switch directly to the new fuel additive, which will, if anything, increase performance.