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(US Gov) Diesel Smoke Tests Diesel engines emit a complex mixture of gaseous and solid material. The visible emissions you can see in diesel exhaust are known as particulate matter. These include many carbon particles (also called soot) as well as other gases that become visible as they cool. In December 2000, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) adopted final rules for a national control program that will regulate the heavy-duty vehicle and its fuel as a single system. As part of this program, more stringent standards for particulate matter emissions (PM) will take effect in model year 2007 and will apply to heavy-duty highway engines and vehicles. Because the control devices needed to accomplish this reduction are damaged by sulfur, the rules also reduce the level of sulfur in highway diesel fuel by 97 percent by mid-2006. Fuel Suppliers Prepared to Meet Future Low-Sulfur Diesel Requirements (From the EPA) Refiners are on target to supply significantly cleaner highway diesel fuel in the next four to six years, according to EPA's analysis of industry reports released today. "EPA's clean diesel standards are an important reason Americans can expect air quality to continue to improve in the years ahead," said EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation Jeff Holmstead. "We're pleased with the preliminary indications from fuel suppliers, because the new clean diesel fuel – in combination with EPA's Acid Rain Program, cleaner vehicles and more stringent standards for ground-level ozone and particle pollution – will help us meet the goals of the Clean Air Act and further protect public health and the environment." Although the industry information compiled, analyzed and summarized by EPA is preliminary, the results provide the clearest snapshot currently available of the highway diesel fuel market. Based on current projections for 2006, 96 percent of the nearly 3 million barrels of highway diesel produced per day will meet the 15 parts per million (ppm) standard. EPA's analysis of information from 126 refiners shows that fuel suppliers are positioned to comply with the 15 ppm sulfur standard on time; highway diesel fuel production will be sufficient to meet demand; and 15 ppm sulfur diesel fuel will be widely available nationwide. Reducing the sulfur content in diesel will enable advanced emission control technology in diesel engines and substantially contribute to air quality improvement, help states meet Clean Air Act goals and further protect public health and the environment. Under the January 2001 "Clean Diesel Rule," any refiner or importer planning to produce or import highway diesel fuel in 2006-10 is required to submit a "pre-compliance report" to EPA. The reports are due annually from June 2003 through 2005 and must contain information that includes the amount of low-sulfur fuel that will be produced or imported; the number of credits that will be generated or used; and a projected compliance time line. For a copy of the Summary and Analysis of the 2003 Highway Diesel Fuel Pre-compliance Reports and additional information about the Clean Diesel Rule, visit http://www.epa.gov/otaq/diesel.htm Click here to visit Dieselnet.com - They have been very helpful in providing information for this page. Applicability and Test Cycles The following emission standards apply to new diesel engines used in heavy-duty highway vehicles. The current federal definition of a compression-ignition (diesel) engine is based on the engine cycle, rather than the ignition mechanism, with the presence of a throttle as an indicator to distinguish between diesel-cycle and otto-cycle operation. Regulating power by controlling the fuel supply in lieu of a throttle corresponds with lean combustion and the diesel-cycle operation (this allows the possibility that a natural gas-fueled engine equipped with a sparkplug is considered a compression-ignition engine). Heavy-duty vehicles are defined as vehicles of GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) of above 8,500 lbs in the federal jurisdiction and above 14,000 lbs in California (model year 1995 and later). Diesel engines used in heavy-duty vehicles are further divided into service classes by GVWR, as follows. Light heavy-duty diesel engines: 8,500 < LHDDE < 19,500 (14,000 < LHDDE < 19,500 in California, 1995+) Medium heavy-duty diesel engines: 19,500 = MHDDE = 33,000 Heavy heavy-duty diesel engines (including urban bus): HHDDE > 33,000 Under the federal light-duty Tier 2 regulation (phased-in beginning 2004) vehicles of GVWR up to 10,000 lbs used for personal transportation have been re-classified as “medium-duty passenger vehicles” (MDPV - primarily larger SUVs and passenger vans) and are subject to the light-duty vehicle legislation. Therefore, the same diesel engine model used for the 8,500 - 10,000 lbs vehicle category may be classified as either light- or heavy-duty and certified to different standards, depending on the application. Current federal regulations do not require that complete heavy-duty diesel vehicles be chassis certified, instead requiring certification of their engines (as an option, complete heavy-duty diesel vehicles under 14,000 lbs can be chassis certified). Consequently, the basic standards are expressed in g/bhp·hr and require emission testing over the Transient FTP engine dynamometer cycle (however, chassis certification may be required for complete heavy-duty gasoline vehicles with pertinent emission standards expressed in g/mile). Additional emission testing requirements, first introduced in 1998, include the following: These tests were introduced for most signees of the 1998 Consent Decrees between the EPA and engine manufacturers for the period 1998 - 2004. Federal regulations require the supplemental testing from all engine manufacturers effective 2007. In California, the tests are required for all engines effective model year 2005. Model Year 1987-2003 Model year 1988-2003 US federal (EPA) and 1987-2003 California (ARB) emission standards for heavy-duty diesel truck and bus engines are summarized in the following tables. Applicable to the 1994 and following year standards, sulfur content in the certification fuel has been reduced to 500 ppm wt. Useful Life and Warranty Periods Compliance with emission standards has to be demonstrated over the useful life of the engine, which was adopted as follows (federal & California): Federal useful life requirements were later increased to 10 years, with no change to the above mileage numbers, for the urban bus PM standard (1994+) and for the NOx standard (1998+). The emission warranty period is 5 years/100,000 miles (5 years/100,000 miles/3,000 hours in California), but no less than the basic mechanical warranty for the engine family. Model Year 2004 and Later In October 1997, EPA adopted new emission standards for model year 2004 and later heavy-duty diesel truck and bus engines. These standards reflects the provisions of the Statement of Principles (SOP) signed in 1995 by the EPA, California ARB, and the manufacturers of heavy-duty diesel engines. The goal was to reduce NOx emissions from highway heavy-duty engines to levels approximately 2.0 g/bhp·hr beginning in 2004. All emission standards other than NMHC and NOx applying to 1998 and later model year heavy duty engines (Table 1) will continue at their 1998 levels. EPA established a revised useful engine lives, with significantly extended requirements for the heavy heavy-duty diesel engine service class, as follows: The emission warranty remains at 5 years/100,000 miles. The federal 2004 standards for highway trucks are harmonized with California standards, with the intent that manufacturers can use a single engine or machine design for both markets. However, California certifications for model years 2005-2007 additionally require the Supplemental Emission Test and NTE limits of 1.25 times the FTP standards. California also adopted a different standard for urban bus engines. Model Year 2007 and Later On December 21, 2000 the EPA signed emission standards for model year 2007 and later heavy-duty highway engines (the California ARB adopted virtually identical 2007 heavy-duty engine standards in October 2001). The rule includes two components: (1) emission standards, and (2) diesel fuel regulation. Effective 2007 model year, the regulation also eliminates the earlier crankcase emission control exception for turbocharged heavy-duty diesel engines. Crankcase emissions from these engines are treated the same as (i.e., added to) other exhaust emissions. Manufacturers are expected to control crankcase emissions by routing them back to the engine intake or to the exhaust stream upstream of the exhaust emission control devices. The diesel fuel regulation limits the sulfur content in on-highway diesel fuel to 15 ppm (wt.), down from the previous 500 ppm. Refiners will be required to start producing the 15 ppm S fuel beginning June 1, 2006. At the terminal level, highway diesel fuel sold as low sulfur fuel must meet the 15 ppm sulfur standard as of July 15, 2006. For retail stations and wholesale purchasers, highway diesel fuel sold as low sulfur fuel must meet the 15 ppm sulfur standard by September 1, 2006. Ultra low sulfur diesel fuel has been introduced as a “technology enabler” to pave the way for advanced, sulfur-intolerant exhaust emission control technologies, such as catalytic diesel particulate filters and NOx catalysts, which will be necessary to meet the 2007 emission standards. The EPA estimates the cost of reducing the sulfur content of diesel fuel will result in a fuel price increase of approximately 4.5 to 5 cents per gallon. The EPA also estimates that the new emission standards will cause an increase in vehicle costs between $1,200 to $1,900 (for comparison, new heavy-duty trucks typically cost up to $150,000 and buses up to $250,000). Click here ... for more information on diesel emmissions (click here) http://www.epa.gov |
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