WHY DO PETROL COME IN DIFFERENT COLOURS, DOES THE COLOUR MATTER ?
Written by:
Engr Gozie Atueyi.
First of all real name of petrol is PMS (premium motor spirit). Reason for this name is because theybelong to family of spirits like your alcohol and other volatile solvents.
Petrol can come in different colors because of the type of additives used in refining it and there are reasons for that.
Some of the reasons are:
1. EASE OF IDENTIFICATION :
We have about 3 popular categories of petrol, they are:
i) PREMIUN = this one is a high grade and normally comes in pink/ wine red colour.
ii) REGULAR = this one is normally greenish in colour.
iii) The Mid grade, this one is in between the premium and the regular.
The best grade of petrol suppose be the Premium and thats why they named petrol Premium Motor Spirit but its unfortunate we hardly see this grade in this country because they prefer importing the lower grades because they are cheaper.
2. DYE ADDITIVES :
During refining, they normally add dye additives to help indentify the type of fuel and its octane rating for specific uses.
3. OCTANE RATING :
Petrol with higher octane ratings are usually differenciated from the ones with lower octane rating by colour. Different types of engines are built to use specific type of petrol just the way they use different ratings of engine oil. Turning your engine to anything goes fuel is very dangerous to the engine. Always stick to manufacturers recommendation.
4. ADDITIVES AND TREATMENT :
Some petrol contains additives and detergents for cleaning of the internal components of the engine for improved performance, reduction in emissions and engine lubrication. This is why when you open an engine that comes from abroad no matter how old the car is the engine still looks very clean without sludge but once the car stays here and use our fuel for few months the engine and fuel pump colour changes from gold to dirty brown or black.
5. REGULATION AND CONTROL :
Some countries use different petrol colours for differenciation in areas of control and regulation.
You cant expect a heavy duty petrol engine to use lowest rating of fuel and give you same result, no way.
DIFFERENT COLOURS AND THEIR MEANING.
▪︎ RED = Premium or higher octane fuel.
▪︎ GREEN = Higher octane fuel with additives.
▪︎ Yellow = Regular unleaded fuel.
▪︎ Clear/ water like = Ethanol blended. This is the most common in this country. This is suppose to be for very light engines but see where we are today. Fill your tank, weather you drive or not the fuel will keep evaporating.
First thing i consider before i buy fuel in any filling station is the quality of fuel they sell. Most of our people here are only concerned on the ones selling at cheaper rate without knowing that when you buy white fuel from them at cheaper rate you ended up short changing yourself because its combustion rate will keep you wondering if you actually bought fuel or not.
Engr Gozie Atueyi.
