By Christian P. Koop
Ever wonder about the quality of the diesel fuel you are putting into your emergency response vehicle's (ERV) fuel tank? If not, you should be. The quality and ingredients used to formulate modern diesel fuel and how it is stored and transported can adversely affect a fuel delivery system's life, emissions, and even fuel economy. The main purpose of this article is to give a brief history of diesel fuel, some of its main components, their purpose, and some of the most important issues surrounding diesel fuel today. Additionally, I want to make those unfamiliar with diesel aware of what they can do to test the diesel fuel they are using in their ERVs and what they can do to improve it. It may not be up to the standards diesel engine manufacturers require for their engines.
History
Before discussing diesel fuel, I need to give credit to the inventor of the diesel engine, Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel. Diesel was a German refrigeration engineer born in Paris, France, in 1858. He received a patent for his invention in 1892. Interestingly, his first fuel of choice for his compression ignition engine was coal dust. However, he had problems injecting the coal dust into the cylinder. After an explosion destroyed his first engine, he began testing the use of vegetable oils as another fuel source. Eventually, he was able to successfully use peanut oil; however, he continued to experiment with other possible fuel sources. Finally, he found what eventually would be known as diesel fuel, a stable byproduct of the petroleum (crude oil) refinement or distillation process. Other fuels derived from petroleum through this process include bunker oil (fuel for large ships), gasoline (petrol), jet fuel (kerosene, paraffin), mineral spirits, and heating oil (very similar to diesel).
Diesel fuel is also referred to as fuel oil and has a wide boiling point range between 320°F and 690°F. Keep in mind that petroleum contains a large number of hydrocarbons and other components that are used to manufacture many commercial products-not just fuels. Diesel died in 1913 at the relatively young age of 55. However, by this time, his engine had been granted many patents. When his main patent expired in 1907, other companies such as Mercedes Benz and Peugeot began developing their own engines. By 1936, Mercedes showed the first nonexperimental diesel-engine-powered passenger car at the Berlin Fair.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actually began regulating emission standards for on-highway and transit compression ignition engines in 1974. Over the years, it gradually tightened the standards on hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM) or soot, and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. However, it was not until 1985 that a restriction on NOx was issued, and it began limiting PM for the first time in 1988. This is why the heavy duty diesel engine manufacturers began producing electronic controls for their fuel injection systems in the mid 1980s. More precise control over timing and fuel injection means better combustion, which equates to less PM and cleaner air. This cleaned up the diesel engine emissions considerably, but stricter (EPA) regulations to lower PM and to reduce NOx emissions even further were on the horizon.
In 1993, the EPA issued a new standard for diesel fuel, reducing the sulfur content to 500 parts per million (ppm), named low-sulfur diesel (LSD). In 1997, the EPA issued a new standard for the 2004 model year with major changes to reduce NOx and PM even further for model years 2007 and 2010. These changes would require reformulating diesel fuel to reduce the sulfur content even further. Beginning in 2006, it dropped the sulfur content even lower to 15 ppm and called it ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD).
Sulfur in diesel is linked to acid rain, causes health problems, and can also lead to acid formation inside the engine. There