Arco Says New Fuel Cuts Emissions
Preliminary tests of the newly formulated fuel, called Emission Control Diesel, resulted in a 15% reduction in particulate matter and a 5% reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions, noted the oil company, based in Los Angeles.
Particulates and nitrogen oxide emissions are at the top of the hit list of critics of diesel engines. Last year, the California Air Resources Board declared diesel particles a cancer-causing substance. NOx is one of the main components of smog.
Arco, the seventh-largest oil company in the United States, said its new fuel could reduce emissions below the levels already achieved by the cleaner-burning diesel required by law in California since 1993. That year, Environmental Protection Agency ordered the rest of the nation to switch to lower sulfur diesel, but its requirements are not as strict as those placed on the fuel by California.
Price could be a problem with Arco’s new fuel. EC Diesel costs between 10 and 15 cents more a gallon than California diesel, said Paul Langland, a spokesman for the company.
“What we feel is that if we do go forward with commercial production, that cost would go down dramatically because we’d be making it on a day-in and day-out basis,” said Langland.
Langland said if Arco produced EC Diesel on a mass basis, it might still cost a bit more, but he did not know by how much.
Stephanie Williams, director of environmental affairs for the California Trucking Association, said she likes the idea of a diesel that reduces pollution without effecting performance. However, she is worried that the fuel will cost more and that it will be required only in California.
“It’s a great idea, and if it’s a nationwide thing, we’re very supportive of Arco. If Arco tries to advocate it as a state only fuel, then their customers are going to come after them,” she said.
Langland said Arco, is planning to market it on the West Coast, primarily in California, “because that’s where most of our diesel is sold today.”
He cautioned that those plans could change in the two or three years before the fuel is ready for the market, especially if Arco and BP Amoco are successful with their $26.6 billion merger announced on April 1.
EC Diesel is much lower in sulfur and aromatics than current diesel, but the company would not reveal its specific composition.
To further test the product, Arco plans to use a fleet of 200 trucks and buses in the California for as long as eight months. It will be conducted with the cooperation of CARB, the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the California Energy Commission.
