SCR Group Expects DEF to Be Available at 2,800 Sites
By Frederick Kiel, Staff Reporter
This story appears in the Jan. 4 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
Diesel exhaust fluid, the additive that most 2010 trucks will need to run, will be available at about 2,800 locations in the United States and Canada by January, ramping up to more than 5,000 by the end of the year, a spokeswoman for the North American SCR Stakeholders Group said.
DEF, a mixture of urea and demineralized water, will be carried in tanks on trucks that use selective catalytic reduction to meet federal emission standards that go into effect for diesel engines built after Jan. 1, 2010. Only International trucks will not need DEF.
“The bulk of DEF supply is being delivered to [original equipment manufacturer] dealers and distributors and to at least two truck stop chains,” Kim Doran, spokeswoman for the North American SCR Stakeholder Group, told Transport Topics.
“SCR OEMs, including Volvo, Mack, Cummins, Freightliner, Detroit Diesel and Western Star dealers and distributors will have DEF and will be ready to go by January 2010,” Doran said.
Representatives of those companies confirmed to TT that all of their dealers and repair locations will have DEF by January.
Doran said that Pilot Travel Centers and Travel Centers of America/Petro will offer DEF at all of their locations, nearly 800 combined.
“We already are offering DEF at all 310 of our facilities in one-gallon and 2½-gallon containers,” Bill Mulligan, Pilot’s vice president of development, told TT. “We also already sell it from fuel islands at 25 of our truck stops.”
He said the company plans to have bulk supplies to dispense DEF from fuel islands at 100 of its stations by September next year.
Tom Liutkus, spokesman for Travel Centers of America/Petro said, “All TA and Petro stops already have DEF in 2.5-gallon containers located either at the location’s fuel desk or at the truck service counter.”
Liutkus added that the company’s highway assistance trucks carry an “emergency supply” of DEF.
Doran said those two truck stop chains alone would have DEF at nearly 800 locations, while the OEMs would have it at 2,000 of their locations in the United States and Canada.
Love’s Travel Stops has said that it would carry DEF containers at all of its 140 locations by January (5-4, p. 4).
Kevin Ferrick, manager for certification programs at the American Petroleum Institute, said the organization certifies that DEF it tests meets the ISO 221 standard previously adopted worldwide.
“We have been certifying an increasing number of companies, which has now risen to about 14,” Ferrick told TT. “Given the time frame, that’s a wide array of companies already certified, one month before 2010 begins.”
He said the API also would test each company’s DEF yearly to ensure that its product continues to meet the ISO standard.
Holly Alfano, vice president of government affairs for Natso, the trade organization representing truck stops, agreed that most members will offer DEF early in 2010.
“Most truck stops are gearing up for DEF,” Alfano told TT. “I would be really surprised if most do not have it by Jan. 1.”
Alfano said she knew that most major suppliers of products to truck stops such as fuel additives also were offering to distribute DEF.
Alan Smith, business development manager for DEF for Brenntag North America, distributor in the United States and Canada of TerraCair brand DEF, said that Brenntag already is delivering DEF, mainly to distributors and to truck and engine maker dealerships.
“Brenntag is assuring that TerraCair is readily available, as customers have begun taking delivery of SCR trucks,” Smith said. “Brenntag has already shipped to over 800 locations throughout North America.”
Brenntag is one of a half-dozen national distributors of DEF.
