Is CNG worsening city’s air pollution? IIT to find out

The spurt in vehicles running on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) may have contributed to the rise in particulate matter (PM) pollution in Delhi, especially particles of less than 2.5 microns in size.

Updated on: Mar 13, 2015, 23:52:02 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The spurt in vehicles running on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) may have contributed to the rise in particulate matter (PM) pollution in Delhi, especially particles of less than 2.5 microns in size.

A definite answer, however, will come when the Indian Institute of Technology completes its source appropriation study for Delhi by September this year.

The findings of the study may be interesting as the authorities have tried to avoid the issue of CNG’s contribution in the increase in pollution levels in Delhi.

The Central Pollution Control Board had done a study done a few years ago on CNG contributing to vehicular pollution in Delhi but its final findings were not made public because of outcry by environmental groups.

As the issue has not been debated, there has been negligible upgrade in CNG technology for vehicles.

Unlike many of the western cities like California and Beijing which has introduced CNG engines, India has not been able to develop engines that run on natural gas. Technology improvement in CNG can improve air quality in Delhi as every 10th vehicle on the road runs on natural gas, said a scientist with Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) that has done some road vehicle density studies in the Capital.

Both the cities had been able to reduce pollution from natural gas for vehicles through technology upgrade.

In 2010, the Central Pollution Control Board’s source appropriation for air pollution study attributed about 7% of particulate matter pollution from CNG-run vehicles. Of the total pollution PM load in the Capital, the study said 52% was because of dust.

The study said that CNG vehicles contributed to about 10% of the total nitrogen dioxide load in the capital.

“The CNG does not contribute much to PM 10 (which is widely monitored). But it plays an important role in the circulation of smaller particulate pollution of 2.5 and 1 microns. These facts are known in the scientific community but have not been disseminated to people,” said a senior CPCB scientist.

The PM 2.5 is monitored only at few locations in Delhi and PM 1 is not monitored. The CPCB 2010 study had said small particulate matter penetrate deep into the lung and can reach the alveolar region causing heart ailments. These fine particles cover a large surface area, absorbs toxic compounds such as heavy metals and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) organic compounds containing high content of carbon, the study said.

Since 2010 when the CPCB study was done, Delhi has witnessed increase in CNG vehicles, especially small commercial cargo and passenger vehicles, popular known as Gramin Seva vans providing last-mile connectivity.

As many as 6,153 CNG vans have been registered in Delhi since 2010 under the gramin seva category and another 6,460 under the phatphat seva.

About one-third of 80,000 passenger auto-rickshaws in Delhi are post 2010 era. In addition, about 62,000 three-wheeler light commercial vehicles running on CNG have been registered mostly after 2010, the transport department data shows.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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