- Regulation & Legislation
- CARB to Unveil Biodiesel/Renewable Diesel Regulation Jan. 20
- Australia to Slash Diesel Vehicle Emissions 50% to 90%
- CARB Sets Jan. 20 Workshop on Low Carbon Fuel Standard
- Green Lawsuit over Clean-Truck Program ‘Baseless, Inaccurate’
- Diesel Retrofit Funding Seen in Upcoming U.S. ‘Jobs’ Legislation
- Technology
- Consumer Reports Finds True Urea Costs ‘Hefty’
- Cummins Confirms U.S. EPA 2010 OK for Urea-SCR
- Uzbeks Ban Pre-Euro-3 Truck, Bus Imports
- Diesel Gen-Set Market ‘Stable’ in Middle East: Study
- Cummins Unveils Diesel Fuel Filter-in-Filter System for Ram Trucks
- Distillate Markets
- Market Report: Distillate Prices Continue Rising
- Distillate Watch
- Air Liquide, Statoil, PetroSA, Lurgi Join French BTL Project
- Pemex Liberating Diesel Prices
- IFQC: Belarus Switches to ULSD
- Singapore Boosts Diesel Exports
- Alaska CTL Project Gets CCS Study Funds
- Transport Research Board Offers Alternative Jet-Fuel Study Contract
Regulation & Legislation
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CARB to Unveil Biodiesel/Renewable Diesel Regulation Jan. 20
California Air Resources Board officials will hold a public workshop in Sacramento on Jan. 20 “to discuss the upcoming biodiesel and renewable diesel regulation.”
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Australia to Slash Diesel Vehicle Emissions 50% to 90%
Australia’s federal government aims to cut smog-causing nitrogen oxides emissions by between 50% to 90% in diesel vehicles starting in 2012/2013, according to an Australian Associated Press report last week.
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CARB Sets Jan. 20 Workshop on Low Carbon Fuel Standard
California Air Resources Board officials announced last week they’re holding a workshop on the agency’s low carbon fuel standard Jan. 20 in Sacramento.
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Green Lawsuit over Clean-Truck Program ‘Baseless, Inaccurate’
American Trucking Associations officials Jan. 4 termed attacks raised by Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club over a Port of Long Beach diesel truck clean-up program deal as “baseless” and “inaccurate.”
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Diesel Retrofit Funding Seen in Upcoming U.S. ‘Jobs’ Legislation
Since the U.S. Congress approved a retrofit-oriented “Diesel Emissions Reduction Act” (DERA) in 2005 with US$1 billion authorized, only $470 million has actually been appropriated, including funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Technology
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Consumer Reports Finds True Urea Costs ‘Hefty’
A Consumer Reports analysis of urea-selective catalytic reduction (SCR) on a new U.S. Mercedes diesel sport-utility vehicle shows that urea costs more than US$316 per urea tank fill-up, or more than $1,900 for 100,000 miles of SCR operation.
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Cummins Confirms U.S. EPA 2010 OK for Urea-SCR
Cummins officials announced Jan. 8 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has certified the company’s heavy-duty and mid-range diesel engines for EPA 2010 emissions limits, via urea-selective catalytic reduction technology.
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Uzbeks Ban Pre-Euro-3 Truck, Bus Imports
Uzbekistan officials announced a ban on import of vehicles failing to meet at least Euro-3 emissions standards as of Jan.1, according to a Trend News Agency (Azerbaijan) report last week.
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Diesel Gen-Set Market ‘Stable’ in Middle East: Study
Demand for diesel generator-sets for power generation “has reached the maturity stage, and will continue to project stable growth rates in the future,” according to a new Frost & Sullivan study.
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Cummins Unveils Diesel Fuel Filter-in-Filter System for Ram Trucks
Cummins Filtration officials announced Jan. 7 the launch of a filter-in-filter fuel system technology for Dodge Ram trucks with 6.7-liter Cummins turbodiesel engines.
Feature
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Rice University Study Raises New Doubts on Biofuels
A Rice University study released Jan. 6 raises new doubts on the economic and environmental viability of biofuels as substitutes for petroleum fuels.
Transport News
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Forced to Drop Diesel, Hong Kong Taxis Suffer LPG Problems
Pushed by government clean-air regulation to switch from diesel fuel to LP-Gas in recent years, Hong Kong taxis are now suffering massive problems from poor-quality liquefied petroleum gas, according to press reports.
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20% of VW’s 2009 U.S. Car Sales were Diesels
Volkswagen of America officials last week announced that despite the economic recession, its total U.S. 2009 sales fell just 4.3%, compared with relatively significant decreases posted by competitors.
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Mahindra May Use Navistar Factory for U.S. Diesel Pickup
Mahindra & Mahindra, which recently launched heavy-duty diesel engine production with Navistar in India (see Diesel Fuel News 12/15/2009), eventually might tap a U.S. Navistar factory to produce a Scorpio diesel pickup truck for the U.S. market, according to a Wall Street Journal report last week.
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Truckers Dispute Railroad CO2 Savings Claims
American Trucking Associations officials last week issued a statement contradicting claims that diesel-electric freight railroads in North America always beat diesel trucks on net carbon dioxide emissions.
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Global Auto Sales to Rebound This Year: Scotia Economics
Scotia Economics officials unveiled Dec. 29 a new report finding that “cyclical recovery in global auto sales began in the spring of 2009 and will gain momentum in the new year.”
Distillate Markets
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Market Report: Distillate Prices Continue Rising
Middle distillate prices in major world spot and futures markets continued to climb last week thanks to cold Northern weather and consequent demand surges.
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Distillate Watch
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Air Liquide, Statoil, PetroSA, Lurgi Join French BTL Project
A new French Atomic Energy Commission project to produce non-food-based biomass to liquids Fischer-Tropsch biofuel will involve technology partners Air Liquide, Lurgi, PetroSA and Statoil.
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Pemex Liberating Diesel Prices
Mexico’s state-monopoly oil company, Pemex, is lifting price controls on diesel and gasoline, company Chief Executive Juan Jose Suarez told a Mexican Parliament committee hearing last week.
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IFQC: Belarus Switches to ULSD
According to a new report from Hart’s International Fuel Quality Center, Belarus switched to Euro-4 (50 parts per million sulfur) limits on highway diesel Jan. 1.
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Singapore Boosts Diesel Exports
Singapore refiners have boosted exports of diesel fuel, according to latest-available government data covering October 2009.
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Alaska CTL Project Gets CCS Study Funds
U.S. President Barack Obama late last month signed a defense appropriations bill that includes a US$2.4 million provision for a carbon capture and storage study for a proposed coal-to-liquids Fischer-Tropsch jet-fuel plant in Alaska.
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Transport Research Board Offers Alternative Jet-Fuel Study Contract
Washington, D.C.-based Transportation Research Board’s Airport Cooperative Research Program officials announced Jan. 6 that they’ve issued a request for proposals to prepare a handbook on “drop-in” alternative jet fuel production and delivery.
