Urea Supply Will Be Ample, OEMs, Truck Stops Predict
By Frederick Kiel, Staff Reporter
This story appears in the Dec. 15 print edition of Transport Topics.
Truck manufacturers and truck-stop chains said their customers would find adequate supplies of urea around the nation when new heavy-duty diesel engines that utilize selective catalytic conversion hit the road in 2010 models.
The availability of urea, the active ingredient in diesel exhaust fluid, has been a major concern expressed in some quarters as SCR technology is introduced to meet 2010 Environmental Protection Agency standards (4-7, p. 5).
All major engine manufacturers but Navistar Inc. will use SCR to reduce emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides by changing NOx into nitrogen and water through a reaction caused by the urea in DEF.
“There were questions on its distribution before, but now, many steps have been taken in a positive way,” David Uschwald, director of SCR infrastructure for Detroit Diesel Corp., told Transport Topics. DDC will build SCR engines for Daimler Trucks North America’s Freightliner and Western Star brands.
The availability of DEF is crucial, because EPA has mandated that all SCR systems must have an electronic monitoring system on DEF tank levels.
Navistar officials have warned about the lack of an infrastructure — and possible high prices for DEF — as reasons not to use SCR. Navistar instead will rely on an enhanced version of the current emissions technology, known as EGR — exhaust gas recirculation.
Uschwald said SCR infrastructure development has been rapid recently: “Daimler, Detroit Diesel and all of our dealers and distributors and other [original equipment manufacturers] and their dealers, along with TravelCenters of America and Pilot truck stops, will be stocking DEF in bulk by 2010.”
Uschwald added that Flying J and Love’s Truck Stops, both national chains, also have committed to having 2.5-gallon DEF containers available for sale in 2010.
TravelCenters of America will ensure urea is available “at 100% of our locations to coincide with the introduction of SCR-equipped trucks for the 2010 model year,” Tom Komos, a TA vice president, said in a November statement. The chain has about 165 locations in 41 states.
Pilot Travel Centers, which has 325 locations in 40 states, also said it had firm plans to distribute DEF.
“The company’s initial rollout plans call for the fluid to be economically available in bulk at more than 100 Pilot Travel Center locations nationwide beginning in mid-to-late 2009,” Pilot stated this fall. Pilot also said it would carry small DEF containers at all its other truck stops until bulk tanks are installed.
Uschwald also said that fleets could purchase bulk DEF today for their truck facilities.
“Intermediate bulk containers, or IBCs, are available today at a reasonable price, which have a capacity of 275 gallons,” he said. “You can make a phone call and get an IBC in four days.”
Uschwald said he thought most fleets would start off with IBCs until they had enough new engines to make larger containers cost-effective.
“There will also be a Web locator, which drivers can access through their own technology in their trucks to find the closest place to get DEF,” Uschwald said. The SCR monitoring systems in trucks will warn drivers when the DEF level is running low, beginning with flashing lights and audible warnings, then automatically cutting the top speed to 55 mph and finally to 5 mph, if the tank runs empty, DDC officials said.
Uschwald dismissed concerns that trucks could be disabled in isolated spots.
“A gallon of DEF will get you over 300 miles,” he said. “The 2.5-gallon container can carry a truck 700 to 800 miles. I imagine most trucks will have this onboard as an emergency stock.”
David McKenna, director of powertrain sales and marketing at Mack Trucks Inc., said Mack’s SCR engines will consume three gallons of DEF “at a maximum” for every 100 gallons of diesel. Other OEMs gave similar ratios.
McKenna also said that concerns about DEF freezing at low temperatures or evaporating at high ones were exaggerated.
“We obviously know that DEF will somewhat freeze into slush at 12 degrees F., and above 120 degrees, there might be issues of evaporation,” McKenna told TT. “While the truck is moving through cold climates, it is heating the urea via the engine cooling circuit. We only have to keep it above the freezing point.”
McKenna said if DEF becomes “frozen solid, there is a heater inside the tank to thaw out the DEF sufficiently to get enough fluid to start. Cold engines require almost zero DEF because they produce almost zero NOx.”
McKenna said the DEF tank will be sealed so the fluid will not evaporate when heated.
David Siler, DDC’s director of marketing, said in an interview that the European equivalent of DEF sells for about $2.60 a gallon, and he expects the U.S. price to be about two-thirds the price of diesel fuel.
