Better and more extensive research should be conducted to determine whether poor quality petrol was responsible for the recent spate of unexplained vehicle fires.
Associate Prof. com Dr. Hoang Manh Hung remains doubtful about the quality of recent petrol inspections
Associate Prof. Dr. Hoang Manh Hung, former deputy head of the Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Criminal Science, confirmed the decision with DTiNews on the sidelines of the Hanoi Department of Science and Technology’s recent seminar on the issue.
There is an assumption that substandard petroleum has been the major cause of the recent spate of vehicle fires in the country. However, the results of a recent inspection of petroleum quality nationwide by the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality (STAMEQ) showed that most of the inspected petrol samples revealed nothing untoward. What do you think about this?
I’m absolutely disappointed about the inspection results. In my opinion, more attention should be paid to the methodology taken on the petrol samples. It’s not appropriate to take only one or litres of gasoline in certain localities for the test. Local authorities said most of the inspected gasoline samples in the southern region do not meet octane standards. In order to swindle inspection agencies and increase their octane indexes, traders often blend the gasoline with a certain amount of acetone. Those who want to multiply their profit often opt to blend the gasoline with methanol. Hanoi authorities have even detected a petroleum station that sold gasoline containing up to 15.3% of methanol which could be a cause of vehicle fires.
Several scientists attributed the massive outbreak in vehicle fires to other reasons including short circuits, fires at parking lots, traffic jams, and engine fuel scarcity. What are your comments on this?
All these could be true. However, when vehicles catch fire en masse, a major cause should be pinpointed. In terms of crime, we’re mainly assuming that petroleum could be inadequately blended with methanol or axitol in order to multiply profits, resulting in vehicle fires.
This is because methanol is easily flammable and found in gasoline. A lot of materials to manufacture vehicle covers and fuel pipelines including plastics, rubber, bronze and aluminium, which could be eroded when the content of methanol surpasses 15%. When fuel leaks and experiences high temperature in a vehicle’s engine, it could foster an explosion or fire.
We find other causes unpersuasive.
Some people think that alloys that are used to manufacture motorbike covers are substandard, hindering engine heat radiation, which coincides with adulterated fuel, resulting in vehicle fire. What do you think about this?
It’s true that alloy quality could affect the heat radiating from an engine and fuel pipeline systems but more efforts should be made to clarify how and when the cover is eroded by adulterated fuel. We need to gather scientists from different fields to study this issue as soon as possible.
Some others said that if vehicle catches fire as a result of substandard fuel, it would result in an explosion. However, many vehicles catch fire when running and the fires often grew gradually. What are your comments about this?
An explosion often follows a fire but in some cases they happen separately. Therefore, when a vehicle catches fire during running, it won’t ever explosion. A motorbike in Bac Ninh Province exploded as it had been blown up.
During examinations in localities nationwide, have you ever experienced any fires caused by adulterated petrol?
Investigative agencies often can explain why a fire could take place. But it’s really difficult to define the exact cause when the vehicle has already caught fire. When a vehicle catches fire, impurities become odorless, leaving only the smell of gasoline. We have investigated some cases where vehicles caught fire, but this was not due to adulterated petrol.
Are you sure that you can pinpoint an exact cause for the vehicle fires if you were invited to join an investigation?
I think it’s really difficult and co-operation is needed in order to find out the cause of vehicle fires. Therefore, I’ve proposed Hanoi Department of Science and Technology to set up a special scientific working group to study outstanding vehicle fires in city. This working group should be authorised to request all petrol stations to provide samples. They could be suspended if they refuse to comply with the request. All petroleum saving equipment must be registered and licensed before circulation and substandard ones must be revoked. Each motorbike should have one report that includes the date of purchase, maintenance and where they bought the petrol. By doing this, they should discover the cause for vehicle fires within one year.
A spate of vehicle fires remain unexplained