ECOPROGRESSO supported APETRO, between September 2018 and February 2019, in the environmental and socio-economic assessment to support the Portuguese State's Request for the Derogation of the Maximum Vapour Pressure (MVP) stipulated by the European Commission for the summer period. This request for derogation arises because of the technical and financial difficulties inherent to the limiting of MVP to 60 kPa, as established by Decree-Law No 152-C/2017 of 11 December.
The socio-economic assessment of the Derogation Request considered all the technical and logistical constraints of restraining MVP to 60 kPa in the summer period, whose consequences affect end consumers, as well as the incentive that this change could represent for meeting the biofuel adoption targets.
In terms of the Environmental Assessment of the implementation of the changes implied in the application, the impact it may have in terms of atmospheric emissions and air quality was assessed using modelling, estimating the increase in emissions of Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds (NMVOCs) in a future scenario (2025), with and without the acceptance of the derogation, and the implications that this increase may have on ambient air quality, in terms of Ozone and Benzene. The impact on air quality was achieved using the mesometeorological model TAPM (The Air Pollution Model), for the entire national territory.
The MVP change was assessed under socio-economic and environmental criteria, in accordance with the document of 20 July 2009 'Guidance Note on notifications of exemptions from the vapour pressure requirements for petrol pursuant to Article 3 (4) and (5) of Directive 98/70/EC relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels', henceforth referred to as the Technical Guide.