Companies Say Ultra-Low-Sulfur Fuel Would Need Special Handling

EW ORLEANS — Officials at pipeline companies and fuel retailers said they would have to change fuel-distribution patterns, and be careful when loading or storing ultra-low-sulfur fuel, to avoid its being contaminated by fuel with higher sulfur content to an extent that the ULSD would fail to meet government standards.

Speakers on a pipeline panel at the Ultra-Low-Sulfur Diesel Implementation Workshop here Nov. 15 and 16 said tests they conducted showed fuel leaving a refinery at 15 parts-per-million of sulfur would pick up enough sulfur to be out of compliance when it reached the end-user.

An Environmental Protection Agency rule requires 80% of diesel sold after June 2006 to be ULSD with no more than 15 ppm of sulfur. Diesel fuel now may have up to 500 ppm.