Industry News
Petrol vapour recovery stage 2 controls will cut pollution by 85% -Defra
24th October 2006
Pollution from petrol fumes, which once leaked into the atmosphere whenever car tanks were topped up, will be captured and recycled as fuel under air quality rules which have come into effect in October.
Under the Petrol Vapour Recovery stage II controls (PVRII) every petrol station selling over 3.5 million litres of petrol a year has until 1 January 2010 to fit equipment to capture the fumes. This threshold has been set high enough to ensure that smaller service stations, particularly those in rural areas, will not face disproportionate costs which could affect their viability.
The technology will recover around 85% of the petrol fumes which would otherwise escape into the atmosphere - around 16,000 tonnes per year in total. It is estimated that over 1.3 million tonnes of VOCs were emitted into the atmosphere in the UK in 2002. The single largest source is road traffic, accounting for 16%. Petrol stations contribute around 3%.
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