by Patson Phiri – SANF 06 No 6
At least four southern African countries beat the 1 January deadline to phase out leaded fuel but a lot of work still needs to be done before the dream of having “cleaner” fuels becomes a reality across the region.
Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia and South Africa have stopped using leaded fuel in line with a commitment made by African countries in 2002 to use only unleaded petrol, which is considered less harmful to the environment and human health.
Mauritius was the first member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to phase out leaded fuel in August 2002. The phase-out was preceded by a public awareness campaign launched in April of the same year to explain the benefits of introducing unleaded petrol.
The campaign included production of a chart for filling stations educating the public on types of vehicles that could use unleaded fuel without additives or conversion of engines as well as introduction of a fact sheet on merits of unleaded petrol and demerits of leaded petrol. There was also a brochure produced to complement the campaign.
Awareness campaigns were also mounted in the other countries. Namibia’s education campaign was launched in August 2005, with the country’s Ministry of Mines and Energy developing a website and pamphlet for the purpose. The pamphlet was distributed to service stations where petrol attendants explained the new development to their clients.
The move to remove lead from petrol in SADC gained momentum after the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in South Africa, which resulted in the launch of a Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles.
The partnership seeks to improve air quality across the developing world by encouraging the deployment of cleaner fuels, such as unleaded and low sulphur petrol and diesel, and improved technologies such as catalytic converters that can significantly cut exhaust fumes.
Elimination of leaded fuel is also in line with recommendations of a meeting of the then Organisation of African Unity held in Dakar, Senegal in 2001.
Experts say lead is toxic and exposure to it can result in mental retardation in children, causes high blood pressure and increases the risk of heart attacks as well as strokes. Environmentalists blame the fuel for damage to the environment.
Tetraethyl lead, a lead compound, was added to petrol for decades to prevent damage to engines. Modern refining technology allows fuel suppliers to produce petrol with molecular forms that burn without damaging the vehicle. Global usage of leaded fuel is estimated to have declined to 10 percent from more than 50 percent 30 years ago and that has meant a gradual shift towards production of vehicles that use unleaded fuel only, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.
Progress towards a complete phase-out of leaded fuel in the SADC region has however been slow, with most countries saying they are not ready for the switch to the so-called “cleaner” fuels.
Mozambique and Zimbabwe say they will only phase out leaded petrol by March. Both countries have since stopped importing the commodity in preparation for a complete phase-out, come 1 April.
According to IMOPETRO, the body representing Mozambican fuel importers, the country could not simply clean out all tanks containing leaded petrol, since this would have cost a lot of money. Instead the leaded petrol is being diluted with the unleaded variety.
“So unleaded petrol will be passed through all the tubes and tanks in the distribution system, until the leaded fuel has been thoroughly flushed out,” said Braga.
He said this process would be completed by March, “and as from then, it can be said that we are using unleaded petrol”.
Zimbabwe’s Secretary for Energy and Power Development, Justin Mupamhanga, said the government has set 31 March as the deadline by which all oil-marketing companies should phase out their current stocks of leaded fuel for clean and environment-friendly lead-free petrol.
Zambia also said it needed more time to phase out the leaded fuel, saying the country’s only refinery was unable to produce sufficient quantities of unleaded fuel for national consumption and was still looking at ways that could be improved.
The country’s Energy Regulation Board could not commit to a date by when the phase-out would be effective.
Among the challenges faced by Zambia – and several other SADC countries – is that the switch to unleaded fuel will involve some financial and technical implications, which they are not prepared for at present.
A Zambian energy expert, Andrew Kamanga noted that the country was financially and technically incapable of phasing out leaded petrol for at least another year or more.
He said the Indeni Petroleum Refinery was not designed to produce unleaded petrol, but configured for heavy fuel oil production for use in the mining industry, the lifeblood of Zambia’s economy.
It costs a lot of money to reconfigure equipment at oil refineries to allow them to produce unleaded petrol instead of leaded fuel. Refineries in South Africa are estimated to have spent about R10 billion or US$1.6 billion to reconfigure their equipment.
Most countries are also ill-prepared for the possible side-effects of the change from leaded to unleaded petrol. In South Africa and Namibia, the phase-out triggered acute shortages of the commodity towards the end of 2005 as refineries failed to cope with demand.
Due to these logistical problems, the South African Petroleum Industry Association has made an arrangement with the government to allow the industry until June this year to flush out all the leaded fuel still in circulation.
Another consideration for countries phasing out leaded petrol is the need to come up with a Lead Replacement Petrol (LRP) to be used on vehicles that ran on leaded fuel. Some countries from the region, such as Botswana, that have phased out leaded fuel have introduced the new grade of LRP 93 to be used in older vehicles.
There is also the price implication of having only unleaded petrol on the market that most countries have to contend with. Unleaded fuel costs more to produce than the leaded commodity.
