Much Cleaner Diesel Fuel to Finally Hit Pumps this Weekend
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 10.11.06
The arrival of a new kind of diesel fuel might not be terribly breathtaking to most people, but it’s being called the biggest development in auto fuel since they took lead out of gasoline. The new diesel has been a long time coming (we mentioned it back in June), in fact the legislation took form under Clinton. But changing the entire diesel refinery industry is a slow thing, especially considering retaliatory lawsuits and a temporary stall by President Bush.
The new ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) will be at most pumps in the country by this Sunday, and will cost $.05 more than the older, sootier stuff. ULSD contains less than 15 parts per million of sulfur, compared to 500 ppm previously. This means 97% less sulfur than is currently allowed. MSNBC quoted a joint statement by the NRDC and Diesel Technology Forum saying, “[c]leaner diesel fuel will immediately cut soot emissions from any diesel vehicle by 10 percent. But when combined with a new generation of engines hitting the road in January, it will enable emission reductions of up to 95 percent.” And added that “[a] new 2007 diesel truck will emit just one-sixtieth the soot exhaust of one produced in 1988.” The new low sulfur fuel will release fewer emissions, but also allow engine makers to implement more advanced emissions control technologies, which will account for the greatest reduction. Currently, some state like Massachusetts and California don’t even allow the sale of new diesel passenger vehicles. The cleaner diesel fuel will open to door to new, efficient diesel cars which will also be candidates for biodiesel. Pictured above, Citroën’s C-Métisse diesel hybrid concept car. :: MSNBC and The New York Times
Some kind of incentive to truck companies to replace their old diesel trucks with the newer post-2007 tech faster would be great too...
There's a typo in the post. It's 15 ppm, not 115 ppm.
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editor note: Thank you, it's now fixed.
Lets not forget that sulfur is not the only "dirty" thing in diesel fuel, though.
Hopefully this will push biodiesel producers to try to make their product to an even stringent cleaner standards so that they remain competive here as well.
However, people will probably modify their engines to produce that dark black smoke that diesel truck enthusiasts like to see.
:-/
I'm not sure if that's a joke or not, Icelander. I've heard about stranger things..
Glad to see such an advance, but I've been running my car on veggie oil for over a year now and that has NO sulfur. What kills me is I am driving around on the stuff and the EPA doesn't even recognize it as a fuel!
In response to the comment about incentives to trucking companies for replacing older trucks faster - the newer engines have been mandated by the federal government. So the manufacturers are building them. Older trucks however tend to have more power than the technology-laden '07 cleaner engines. Opinion in the trucking industry regarding older trucks is to "run'em till the wheels fall off." Because of this the manufacturers are all facing declines in sales; though they're coming off of booming years as the trucking industry has replaced trucks earlier than needed to get pre-07 engines (anticipating the federal mandate).
The average usable life of a Class 8, Heavy-Duty truck is about 4 years. And a million miles at about 4 miles to the gallon is pretty standard (so a truck will consume about 250,000 gallons of diesel fuel in its servicable lifetime).
Large fleets (50 or more trucks), which account for somewhere between 25 - 35% of all trucks on the roads today, are more receptive to newer trucks than smaller fleets and independent owner/operators. The large fleets replace trucks on a set cycle, typically every 3-4 years. So they will buy what is available. Smaller fleets tend to have a more organic truck replacement cycle, and they therefore tend to keep trucks longer. The oldest trucks on the road are usally run by owner/operators who is someone that owns the truck they drive as their livelihood. Lifestyle is important to owner/operators, and though important to the bottom line, things life fuel economy, aerodynamics and the overall efficiency are less important to them than to a large fleet. Owner/operators are the ones you see going down the road with all the chrome, lights and sometimes airbrushed murals on their trucks. These are their homes, and they dress them up and keep them for years.
So as far as incentives go, the market will pretty much handle that. The manufacturers are poised to introduce new or refinded models to combat their projected downturn, in hopes that something "new" will entice owners to trade up. And the older trucks will wear out in 3 - 4 years and they will have to be replaced with new. And besides, the federal government already has plans for 2010 engine emissions standards that will be even tougher.
BTW, I've been doing marketing for clients in the trucking industry for 8 years, and follow industry trends because of it.
Just bought some low sulphur diesel today here in Oregon. It is getting cool enough that I need to start blending it with the biodiesel that I have been running with all summer.
Matthew, I was wondering if you could clarify something for me. I'm looking at data for median lifetimes for heavy trucks (26,000 lbs+), because I'm not able to find data specific to Class 8 trucks (which are 33,000 lbs+, right?).
The data I have is showing a median lifetime of 28 years for heavy trucks from MY1990, so I'm wondering why there's such a huge difference in median lifetimes between that class and the sub-class of Class 8 trucks or if somehow there's a data discrepancy.
http://www-cta.ornl.gov/data/tedb25/Spreadsheets/Table3_10.xls
I too wonder where that 4 year lifespan comes from sounds very low to me for a heavy truck. I'm a rail fan and I can tell you that there are some railroads that have diesel locomotives in service that are over 40 years old. They just rebuild them. I would think they would do the same thing with trucks.
I just want to let people know that this is great for the newer trucks. My husband has a diesel its a 2002 and since he started puting this fuel in his truck it has not run right. It stalls and then won't start. Buses in the area are not running because of it. Yes this fuel is good but in the winter months it gels up in the lines and it is posted on the pump that any truck older than 2007 using this fuel could damage the engine. They need to do someting to remedy this problem. Ya they fix one problem then create more problems for the consumer. Some people can't afford to buy new trucks or fix the truck that they have because the new fuel damaged their motor.