Gasoline vapour losses from marketing operations are a major source of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) emission and a significant economic loss. Exposure to VOC can cause adverse health effects. VOC also lead to the formation of harmful ground level ozone. Gasoline vapour losses from retail outlets occur in two stages viz., vapour losses from the underground storage tank termed as Stage I and vapour losses during dispensing of fuel to the vehicles termed as Stage II. In India, there are currently only few Stage II vapour recovery systems in selected marketing outlets and no Stage I vapour recovery systems in place. Quantifying the extent of the gasoline losses would help in implementation of the vapour recovery systems. In the present study, large amount of field data was collected in terms of ambient temperature, fuel temperature of lorry, underground storage tank and during dispensing of fuel from 18 Indian cities covering around 100 retail outlets during both winter and summer seasons. These temperature measurements relate to shrinkage and working losses. Further, the actual stock loss on decantation from the lorry to the underground storage tank was also quantified.
The present paper summarizes the data collected, its analyses and the outcome and major conclusions. In view of authors, it is the first time in the country that such a comprehensive study on the subject was undertaken.