FUEL producer BP has developed a 鈥渓ite鈥� petrol that won鈥檛 intoxicate petrol sniffers. Sniffing petrol is a problem in many remote Aboriginal communities in Australia, especially among teenagers, and it can cause brain damage.
Launched earlier this year, the fuel is called Opal and is increasingly being used across Australia, with 37 remote Aboriginal communities now receiving it. Meanwhile, government researchers are assessing the impact of the new fuel on the communities, and are expected to report their findings later this year.
It was back in the 1990s that BP distributors noticed that petrol sniffing wasn鈥檛 a problem in Aboriginal communities that used aviation fuel in cars instead of petrol, an occasional practice in areas where light aircraft are often used because it reduces the need for two storage tanks.
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鈥淭he major difference between the two fuels was that aviation fuel has extremely low aromatics,鈥� says chemist Garry Whitfield of BP鈥檚 Melbourne office. Aromatics are ring-shaped hydrocarbons such as toluene that prevent fuel from self-igniting, which causes 鈥渒nocking鈥�, a rattling sound in engines. They also help produce the high petrol sniffers crave. Aromatics make up around 25 per cent of modern car petrols, but Australian aviation fuel, unlike that in most parts of the world, is low in aromatics.
However, it isn鈥檛 just a simple matter of encouraging communities bedevilled by petrol sniffing to switch to aviation fuel. Aviation fuels contain lead which is bad for the environment, health, and cars designed to run on lead-free fuels.
So BP spent a year developing Opal, which contains no lead and is less than 5 per cent aromatics. A straight-chain hydrocarbon called alkylate is added to make the fuel high-octane, which prevents self-ignition. It costs around 30 per cent more to produce and distribute than regular petrol, but a government subsidy makes up the difference.
鈥淭his is like ultra-light beer. Try sniffing it and there is nothing there鈥�
鈥淚t pours like a gasoline, but it doesn鈥檛 seem like one because you can hardly smell it at all,鈥� says fuel system engineer Rob Frew of Orbital Australia, an engineering company based in Perth that has helped test the fuel. 鈥淢ost attempts have been to add something that is horrible. But this is like an ultra-light beer. If someone were to sniff it there is nothing there,鈥� says Mark Glazebrook, BP鈥檚 corporate citizenship advisor in Melbourne.
