Springfield, Il Transit Adopts E-Diesel for Buses

13 May 2005

The Springfield, Illinois, Mass Transit District (SMTD) is shifting its buses to 02Diesel’s ethanol-diesel fuel blend.

O2Diesel uses 7.7% ethanol, 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 up to 26%

• Reduced NO_x emissions up to 5%

• Reduced PM up to 40%

SMTD is the third municipal transit system to join O2Diesel’s CityHome program. The agency is expected to convert all 40 of its diesel-powered coaches and para-transit vehicles to the E-diesel blend by the end of June 2005.

CityHome is a partnership involving municipal transit systems, O2Diesel and corporate sponsors. CityHome sponsors, which include Financial Times, Patriot Motorcycles, local corn growers associations and ethanol boards, offset the added cost of O2Diesel’s ethanol-diesel fuel blend.