Aviation: Fuels

(asked on 17th November 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has for phasing out Avgas 100.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 23rd November 2021

Tetraethyllead (TEL) is a chemical used in AVGAS 100 and is listed on the UK REACH Candidate list as a substance of very high concern (SVHC). This places certain obligations on companies or individuals that use or place TEL on the market in GB.

SVHC identification is the first step in the Authorisation process, which is used to control the use of substances with specific hazards. Once a substance has been identified as an SVHC, it can then be prioritised for inclusion in Annex 14 of UK REACH (the authorisation list). In its recent draft recommendation on substances that are a priority for adding to Annex 14, the HSE concluded whilst no action should be taken at present, it might be appropriate to revisit the regulatory approach to tetraethyllead when technical evaluations of potential alternatives for use in aviation fuel are completed.

The Department for Transport is working to encourage industry to transfer to cleaner aviation fuels as soon as possible. In December 2020, the Secretary of State for Transport asked officials to explore ways to encourage the aviation sector to use UL91 fuel, an unleaded aviation fuel which it is believed a significant proportion of the piston engine aviation fleet can use.

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