There are new vehicles that include engines created to work with fuel quality in accordance with Euro 4, 5 or 6 regulations (standards applied in the European Union) in order to generate lower pollutant emissions. Only During 2021, a total of 49,014 of these cars of 45 models belonging to twenty brands were sold (see what they are in the tables).
Aeade complains about the fuel sold in Ecuador, because it has non-recommended sulfur levels for 20 years
Certain functions of them will not reach their full potential in the country, because the fuel that is sold does not meet the minimum standards required by those engines created according to the regulations Euro 4, 5 and 6so called because it is a legislation that governs the EU.
What remains for their owners is comply with what their manufacturers or dealers advise, such as the use of super in the best of casesfuel available in Ecuador that has the best quality, but its price is higher so it is the least used type.
The machinery manufactured under the Euro 4, 5 and 6 standard requires fuels that have from less than 50 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur, which is progressively lowered until the requirement of having up to 10 ppm as a maximum limit. This is one of the properties that is measured when establishing quality.
The gasoline and diesel that are marketed in Ecuador are suitable for Euro 1, Euro 2 and Euro 3 enginesemission standards that were in force in Europe between 1992 and 2000. They contain more than 200 parts per million of sulfur.indicates a report from the Association of Automotive Companies of Ecuador (Aeade).
They are engines that In addition to not meeting the objective of reducing their emissions to the levels for which they were manufactured, they will not achieve their most optimal performance either..
“Power is the thing. It is not the same to have an engine designed to generate 100 hp. horsepower, which stands for horsepower, a metric used to indicate the power produced by the engine), but with the use of an ideal fuel with specific properties. By putting one that does not meet that standard, because it will yield 80 hp, 75 hp, power is lost. To this is added a more accelerated degradation of the engine, ”says Andrés Zumárraga, technical advisor to the Aeade.
Genaro Baldeón, president of this guild, affirms that these vehicles with new technologies consume less fuel as they have much smaller engines in terms of cylinder capacity. “But better quality fuel is needed. By having it, less gasoline will be spent on maintenance and a longer lifespan of the vehicle is guaranteed.”.
Owners of these cars are advised to follow the recommendations as much as possible. “Apart from using super, change filters in much shorter times than is normally recommended in other markets where there is better fuel quality.”
What’s more, the use of the spare parts indicated according to the model and brandZumarraga says. “If you have a car manufactured under the Euro 5 regulations, already with super gasoline one is deviating from the original, even worse if extra or eco-country is used, I am harming the engine more. Using alternate parts can be detrimental, because the filters have a capacity that is needed for a fuel that does not have a specification. We must remember that here it also refers to impurities that the national has, those that enter and attack the injectors and pistons”.
How often the filters are cleaned or serviced depends on the model and manufacturer of the vehicle. “There are brands that ask for 5,000 km, 8,000 km or 10,000 km. It depends on the type of engine, whether it is gasoline or diesel, the type of filter elements and the technology that has been used. In the end, if good maintenance is done, the car will last longer, always applying prevention tasks will be cheaper in the long term”, Zumárraga assures.
With this, more modern cars will be able to use all its functions, the issue is that due to the fuel they will not work optimally. “They can always be used, what is reduced is the useful life of these components. A typical case is the oxygen sensor that allows controlling the way in which combustion is carried out, which is called a closed cycle. This will work fine at first until it stops working. It will probably indicate an error code on the screen.”
A new car can suffer a premature degradation that implies, for example, the change of a component a year after it was purchased. “One can have it designed so as not to have to change components until three or four years after buying it, but due to degradation, it is done before. It has to go back to a dealer for a repair or a technical review every year, which with the ideal fuel would not happen.”
TO the ports of Ecuador do arrive gasoline and diesel that have a sulfur content of ten parts per million (ppm), for example, even lesswhich corresponds to the Euro 5 and 6 regulations of the EU.
The problem is that it is mixed with the one that is processed in the refineries of the country and it is also losing quality when being transported by the pipelines, indicates Zumárraga.
In the southwestern part of Ecuador (Guayas, Santa Elena, El Oro and Azuay) there is a better quality of fuel with gasoline and diesel that has up to less than 20 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur if it goes directly from the port terminals to gas stations, but the situation in distribution is getting worse.
Gasoline and diesel with low sulfur content also arrive at the port of Esmeraldas, but the quality deteriorates when mixed with that manufactured in the national refinery located in that city.
In practice, this causes the gasoline sold to have, on average, up to 300 ppm in the Coast and Sierra, says Zumárraga. Yes, it is below national regulations, whose limit is up to 650 ppm in gasoline (extra and super) and up to 500 ppm in the case of diesel.
If only the Costa and Sierra regions are taken into account, then in practice a fuel is used that in the case of extra or ecopaís has up to 450 ppm, super up to 300 ppm, just like diesel, indicates Zumárraga.
National regulations are complied with but with very permissive limits that in other countries, even in the region and the most developed, have not been accepted for more than 20 years.
Baldeón affirms that poor fuel quality has effects on the air we breathe in cities and on environmental pollution. “The vehicles that are manufactured are designed for very efficient technologies in terms of emissions, which means that they have low levels of polluting emissions as a result of a progressive increase that has occurred over the years so that the engines have these better conditions. impact on health and the environment.
More than 20 years ago, the Euro 3 standard was in force in the EU, which has been changing in order to establish more efficient and less polluting engines.
Now Euro 6B is in force, an equivalent regulation also in the United States, which implies a drastic reduction in emissions with a series of filters and catalysts used by engines that only activate with good quality fuel, says Baldeón.
The fuel that is distributed in the country’s gas stations has properties that correspond to those that existed in the EU and the United States for more than two decades.
“The engines are designed to work under the Euro 5 and 6 regulations, but a fuel like the one from Ecuador is put in them and they do not work as they should and the emission reduction objective is not met, so it is useless. The vehicle is damaged and what comes out of the tailpipe will not have the level of emissions for which it was designed, ”he indicates.
The users of the Amazon region, from where oil wealth is extracted, the main source of energy in the world with which fuel is manufactured, bear the brunt. An example is that it has been accounted diesel with up to more than five thousand parts per million of sulfurone of the properties analyzed, which is sold at gas stations around the Shushufindi refinery, in the province of Sucumbíos.
The consequence is that there are several new fleets that begin to break down in months since they start operations in the Shushufindi area of influence. “The impact can be immediate. The investments are strong when acquiring diesel units for the transport of people or cargo”, mentions Baldeón.
Improving quality requires investments in infrastructure to strengthen national refineries, expand the pipeline network for distribution, which is expensive. The fuel subsidy is an obstacle, adds Baldeón, since the consumer price does not correspond to the real cost.
Ecuador has a maximum gasoline of up to 92 octane (another property that, if higher, improves engine performance), the lowest level in Latin America, but the average price is also among the lowest, surpassed only by Venezuela and Bolivia in the region.
Progress is being made in the country on a proposal for the importation of fuels with Euro 5 quality.
The relationship between engine performance, efficiency, engine exhaust emissions and fuel quality is recognized in EU legislation.
Due to the quality of fuels, the supply of vehicles available in Ecuador is limited. Ecuador is the only country in the region that does not have gasoline availability with at least 95 octane, indicates a report from the Aeade.
Executive Decree 1158 of September 24, 2020 provided for the updating of fuel standards to achieve a Euro 5 fuel standard.
In order to comply, the Technical Committee of the Ecuadorian Standardization Service (INEN) updated the standards on gasoline and diesel. However, says Baldeón, the standards for currently available fuels have been maintained (85-octane extra and eco-country, with 650 ppm sulfur, and 92-octane super, with 450 ppm sulfur).
The Ministry of Energy, Petroecuador and the Aeade agreed to improve the quality of gasoline. The goal was that as of January 2022, the current 92-octane super gasoline would be replaced by a new 95-octane one, with a maximum of up to 300 ppm of sulfur. Now the union extended the deadline until next April in a letter with proposals that they sent to the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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