Cleaner fuels lead to cleaner air

Beginning June 1, 2006, refiners across the country began producing cleaner ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel – diesel fuel with a sulfur level that is at or below 15 parts per million (ppm) compared to the previous 500 ppm sulfur – for use in highway diesel engines.  Low-sulfur (500 ppm) diesel fuel for non-road diesel engines (such as farm and construction equipment, locomotive and marine engines) will be required in 2007, followed by ULSD fuel for most of these machines in 2010, and for locomotives and marine engines in 2012. This is considerably cleaner than the current non-road diesel fuel which has an average of 3,400 ppm sulfur.¹

Many public and school bus fleets around Puget Sound have been using ULSD for several years, thanks to efforts by the Clean Air Agency and local refiners which began offering this cleaner fuel well before it was required. 

Besides reducing emissions from the existing diesel fleet, these cleaner fuels enable the use of advanced pollution-control technologies on new engines.  Technologies like particulate filters, capable of emission reductions of 90 percent and more, will be required under new standards set to begin phasing into the highway sector in 2007, and into the non-road sector in 2011.  Some fleets already using ULSD have achieved these additional emission reductions without buying new vehicles by retrofitting their current vehicles with particulate filters. According to the US EPA, by 2030, when the majority of the engine fleet has been fully turned over and all vehicles are equipped with advanced after-treatment technologies, particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) will be reduced by 250,000 tons/year and four million tons/year, respectively.²

Additionally, Washington state drivers of diesel vehicles will automatically fill up with at least a two-percent biodiesel blend by the end of 2008, thanks to renewable fuel legislation passed by state lawmakers in 2006.  Gasoline users will automatically pump a two-percent ethanol blend by the same time period.

And many public and private fleets, as well as individual drivers, are already using 100-percent biodiesel (B100) or more common biodiesel blends such as B20 (20-percent biodiesel, 80-percent petroleum diesel) or less.

Integrating biofuels both benefits air quality and helps boost the market place for cleaner fuels.  These efforts will yield enormous long-term benefits for public health and the environment.