Subsidised liquid fuel detected via nanotags
The Borneo Post reported on 31 May 2007 that the Sarawak State goverment hopes to save RM750 million this year as more companies in illegal possession of subsidised diesel are caught via nanotag detection system.
But what is it and how does it work?
Developed in the US, a chemical marker that is added to diesel consignments before leaving oil terminals. Every 8,000 litres of subsidised diesel is doped with a 25ml vial of the chemical. Doped diesel cannot be differentiated by visible means. Its low concentration level is akin to one second in 15 years. No amount of mixing subsidised diesel with those that are not ‘tagged’ will affect the results.
To detect the presence of nanotags in a diesel sample, another chemical is used. It is drawn into a syringe containing the diesel sample - the presence of nanotags would turn the diesel sample either white or pink in colour.
Normal diesel stored in tanks, which have previously contained nanotag doped diesel, would not be tested positive, because the sensitivity of the chemical has been adjusted to ensure that containers used to store both ‘tagged’ and ‘non-tagged’ diesel will not give contradicting results.
It seems to be very effective. According to the newsreport, since its implementation in Sept 2006, more than 60 per cent of industrial sites have tested positive for illegal possession of subsidised diesel. That’s more than half!
As an indication of the size of the matter: in Malaysia there are 4,000 approved fuel distributors, and there are a total of 10,000 factories.
Apparently nanotag techology are also applied in this way in India, Brazil and of course the US.
Written by pinolobu on July 15th, 2007 with
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