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India’s Ethanol-blending program (E20) has triggered another wave of protests and debates. Of late we have come across multiple incidents of vehicles undergoing breakdowns or stalls due to petrol- issues. In many cases, people attributed these to E20 specification of the fuel used. However, videos circulating online suggest that it may not be incompatibility with E20 that’s causing some of these incidents. The actual cause may be fuel contamination. Take a look at the videos below.

This video is from Bihar. In it, we can see the staff filling petrol into a bottle brought by the customer. It is a see-through plastic bottle that allows us to get a proper view as the fuel falls in it. The staff fills the bottle fully. We all know what petrol looks like and what its colour is. Here, however, we can see a starch-coloured fluid getting filled. It looks like saturated lemonade or sugarcane juice! No, we don’t intend to say that it is pure ethanol that is being filled into the bottle. It may simply be much worse. More about that later.

People can be seen filming the bottle and the liquid in it. The customers are all angry. Most likely, petrol from this particular bunk may have ruined some of their vehicles. The staff looks helpless.

The next case is from an Indian Oil bunk in Kerala. Here too, the staff is seen dispensing petrol into a see-through plastic bottle. The fluid looks frothy and has a different colour than pure petrol. It looks like a suspension of two different liquids. The colour here, is more saturated than that in the previous case. People actively film the freshly dispensed petrol, while it is left to settle. Soon, we see it get separated into two different layers- a watery layer at the bottom and petrol at the top.

A man can be heard saying ‘ bought petrol for Rs 150. Got Rs 50 worth of petrol and water for Rs 100.’ The staff then checks the dispensed petrol inside the bunk’s facility. The video, however, doesn’t talk in detail about the results of this test. A customer can be heard complaining about the inconvenience caused, and the damage his vehicle had to take.

Take a look at this video from Siddhivinayak in Mumbai. It shows an HP petrol bunk. A staff is seen holding a container filled with freshly-dispensed petrol. As in the previous cases, the liquid has a less saturated colour. It in fact, looks like starch water! The staff shows it to the manager and informs him of the customer complaints. This video doesn’t however, show any more details of this occurring.

From what can be seen in these videos, these look like cases of fuel contamination, mostly caused by water getting mixed with E20 petrol. In the second case ( the one from Kerala), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) has confirmed that the issue was caused by water ingress in the bunk’s underground storage tank. Heavy rainfall caused this. In a comment on the post, the company stated that it has already addressed the grievance of the concerned buyer, and suitable corrective measures have been implemented at the outlet.

Contamination caused by water ingress may have been the cause in the other two cases as well. The suspension-like appearance of the dispensed fluid points in this direction. In the first case, there may have been heavy water ingress. E20 petrol may have then undergone phase separation and the Ethanol molecules may have attached themselves aggressively to water molecules. It was likely this blend of Ethanol and water that we saw coming out of the dispenser.

Even in the third case (Mumbai), water contamination may have been the case. It remains unclear how the water ingress actually occurs. There are two possibilities. Compromises in the underground storage facilities at petrol pumps may cause seepage or leakage during heavy rains.

The second possibility is of an aggressive absorption by Ethanol in E20, from the atmosphere, whenever it comes in contact with it. The tanks at most petrol bunks are not designed for E20 storage. They are from the E10 era or older. While things remain unclear, we know for a fact that E20 petrol and water do not go well together!