E-Diesel for Refuse Fleet

18 November 2004

E.J. Harrison & Sons, a refuse truck fleet operator based in California, is switching to O₂Diesel’s (earlier post) ethanol-diesel blend. The year-long program, funded under the terms of O₂Diesel’s subcontract with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), commenced with 14 trucks running on O₂Diesel, with the bulk of the 120 vehicles to be brought on in a few weeks.

O₂Diesel is terminal-blending the fuel to specification and delivering it to Harrison’s fleet refueling location. O₂Diesel uses a 7.7% ethanol blend, with up to 1% proprietary additive and a cetane improver. Cetane is a measure of a fuel’s ignition delay—the period between the start of injection and start of combustion of the fuel. Higher cetane fuels will have shorter ignition delay periods than lower cetane fuels, and shorter delay is better.

In tests against conventional diesel, O₂Diesel:

• Reduced CO emissions 20-28%
• Reduced NO_x emissions 2-6%
• Reduced PM 34-46%