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Continued from page 7Emission standards for new heavy-duty diesel engines—applicable to vehicles of GVW > 3,500 kgHarmful Particulate Matter will be reduced drastically by over 98% if BS-IV norms are implemented throughout the country.EMISSION NORMS - INDIASource : WikipediaIn order to reduce harmful emission ofgases from vehicles, including carbondioxide, the governments all over theworld have been taking steps for cleaningthe environment. India has also issuedthe Clean Air Act which is popularlyknown as Bharat Stage in line withEURO norms.In India, it was in 1991, that the first setof emission norms came into picture forpetrol vehicles and the same wasimposed on diesel vehicles in 1992. In1995, the next regulation was extendedto four metro cities (Delhi, Calcutta,Mumbai and Chennai). According to this,it was mandatory to fit catalyticconverters in new petrol passenger carssold. This step was so needed at thattime as “Lead” the highly toxic pollutant,was required to be taken out of petrol.Unleaded fuel was introduced first inmetro cities and then in other 42 majorcities.One part of the emission is ParticulateMatter (PM) emitted by diesel vehiclesonly, which causes serious damage tohuman beings. PM is considered as mainsource of pollution. In 1996, regulationwas made that there should be cold startemission test for diesel vehicles below3.5 ton GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight).In 2010, Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) was adopted only in 13 majorcities in India, but the implementation is still not proper.In India, all on-road vehicles are required to have a valid Pollution under Control(PUC) certificate. However, a significant number of vehicles were already on-road.Poor road conditions and inappropriate maintenance of these vehicles were themain reason of pollution. As of now, each commercial vehicle should undergo anInspection and Certification Programme (I&C) through authorized RTO agencies.However, inadequate training given to independent centres for providing thiscertificate, outdated equipment, and inept tracking system of vehicles are majorflaws in this PUC system till date. This is making the emission norms not capableof controlling the today’s pollution levels.Anyone can purchase the commercial vehicle from outside these 13 cities anddrive the vehicle in these cities without any check and control on diesel commercialvehicles. The whole purpose of cleaning the air in these cities is being defeatedas the pollution norms are not uniformly applied throughout the country.As per published data, the sale of diesel commercial vehicle in domestic markethas grown by more than seven times in last 10 years, but emission norms havechanged only twice. This is not enough for the country which is on high growthpath and emission norms needs to be matched along with the changing profile ofdiesel commercial vehicle exhaust volume.STAINLESS INDIA / VOL. 16, NO.3 PAGE 9Comparison of materials for exhaustsystemsAs customers, we are concerned aboutthe quality of the vehicle while purchasinga personal vehicle or diesel commercialvehicle. In case of personal vehicles, welook into the aesthetic value, the mileage,the ergonomics, brand value and cost.In diesel commercial vehicles, thecustomer looks for products which havelower maintenance cost, higher loadcarrying capacity and best mileage. Inthe market, exhaust systems with pipesof mild steel, mild steel coated withaluminium and stainless steel are thechoices.Since the service life of the exhaustsystem has not been defined in theBharat Emission norms, in order toreduce their selling price, manufacturersuse lowest cost materials like mild steelor aluminised steel for their exhaustsystem and provide only one yearwarranty. Their perception is thatContinued on page 11
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