Environmental Technology Verification Program
In the fight to reduce diesel emissions, it is conventional wisdom to look to the federal government to test and verify commercially available emissions reduction technologies.
It is critical to understand that “ verified” does not mean a given technology solves every issue, or outperforms a solution NOT on the “verified” list.
All “verification” means is that a given technology produced “X” outcome, when tested according to a specific protocol. There is no “passing or failing” when discussing technologies on these lists. The results are what they are, and are fully reported, and it is up to you to determine if the technology is applicable to your situation.
EXAMPLES OF VERIFIED TECHNOLOGIES, AND THEIR VERIFIED OUTCOMES WHICH WILL IMPACT YOUR ABILITY TO REDUCE PM, NOX, AND HYDROCARBON EMISSIONS
Biodiesel: Increased NOx emissions - Increased organic carbon ( SOF / VOC ) emissions
Diesel Particulate Filter ( various manufacturers ): Does Not Address NOx
Diesel Oxidation Catalyst( various manufacturers) : Does Not Address Nox
Clean Diesel Technologies fuel borne catalyst: potential fine metallic emissions & potential resulting health effects - need PM filter - minimal Nox reduction
Purinox - water / diesel fuel emulsion: PM/HC/CO emissions can increase as a result of tuning to compensate for decreased power- only summer blend verified
Envirofuels Diesel Fuel Catalyzer: verified on tier 0 locomotive engine - verification report specifies an increase in total particulate ( TPM ) emissions on the treated fuel, as compared to the baseline fuel, even though the gaseous emissions and visible smoke opacity decreased significantly.
It must be remembered that there ARE particulate emissions you can't see, but are there nonetheless - An opacity reading gives only a reading on the levels of inorganic carbon (soot) that is visible to the eye.
In further reading the charts and graphs in the verification report, it is indicated that TPM increased as little as 40%, and as much as 170%!
TPM is the sum of organic and inorganic particulate matter.
Additionally it must be pointed out that a fuel consumption reduction of 5% was seen during "line haul duty", but the % of error was + / - 4%, and under the heaviest load, there was no reading given for fuel consumption reduction.
Sources - USEPA Voluntary Diesel Retrofit Program, USEPA Emission Technology Verification (ETV) Program websites.
We examined published verification reports, technology options charts, and technical summaries. We are merely quoting what we have found - it is up to you to determine if you can live with every effect of these technologies, in order to see any advertised upside to their use.
Information taken from the following sources:
http://www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus/technology.htm http://www.epa.gov/OTAQ/retrofit/verif-list.htm www.epa.gov/etv/pubs/03_vs_envirofuels.pdf