Lower than ever: Ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel

 

Aug. 2, 2005 –Beginning in mid-2006, the Environmental Protection Agency will transition on-highway diesel fuel to significantly lower levels of sulfur, which will greatly reduce emissions. But that doesn’t mean fleets and other drivers need to wait to start experiencing the clean air benefits of ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel. Several Western Washington refineries are transitioning to ULSD fuel now, in increasing quantities.

Both U.S. Oil and Conoco-Phillips are producing the ultra-low sulfur fuel now, well ahead of the 2006 requirement.

“We commend our partners at U.S. Oil and Conoco-Phillips for jumping ahead of the game and voluntarily making ultra-low sulfur diesel available sooner than required,” said Dennis McLerran, Executive Director for the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. “We hope fleets will take advantage of this opportunity to fill up with this more air-friendly fuel.”

“Many school bus and municipal fleets have been using the ultra-low sulfur fuel for many months now and have had great results. Even the Washington State Ferries are using ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel on one of their runs through the pristine San Juan Islands to protect air quality.”

Exhaust from diesel trucks, buses, ships, and other equipment is the leading source of toxic air pollution in our region, accounting for nearly 80 percent of cancer-causing emissions to our outside air. Diesel exhaust in particular has been found to pose environmental and public health risks, as it contains high levels of fine particles, as well as ozone-forming nitrogen oxides and toxic air pollutants. Regular diesel fuel can have up to 500 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur content, whereas currently available ULSD has been refined to contain 15 to 30 ppm — a dramatic improvement.

Switching from regular diesel fuel to ultra-low sulfur diesel is a simple solution, which not only reduces emissions of sulfur oxides and fine particles, but also makes use of other pollution control equipment such as oxidation catalysts and particulate filters more effective. Together these strategies can reap huge benefits for air quality.

Additional Resources

• What is ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel
  
  
• U.S. Oil & Refining (USOR): As of April 2005, USOR is producing ULSD meeting the 15 ppm sulfur maximum as required by the EPA for June of 2006.
  
  For more information, contact: Janet Millie at U.S. Oil & Refining, at (253) 383.1651 or jbm@usor.com
  
  USOR spec sheet:
  
  
• ConocoPhillips: ConocoPhillips has provided ULSD fuels with less than 30 ppm sulfur since 2001.
  
  For more information, contact: Lynn Chun at ConocoPhillips, at 206-780-9931 or lynn.a.chun@conocophillips.com.
  
  
• For more about the EPA rule