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More Diesel Retrofit

Nonroad Diesel Emissions Information

Studies show that diesel exhaust has serious health impacts – it can cause cancer and damage the lungs. However, municipalities and construction contractors can reduce diesel emissions by using cleaner fuels or installing pollution control devices on existing nonroad (off-highway) diesel engines. As a result, voluntary retrofit programs are being promoted in the Chicago area and nationwide to reduce harmful emissions from nonroad diesel engines.

The Diesel Exhaust Problem

  • Diesel exhaust contains pollutants including fine particulate matter (PM), hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) that damage the lungs and may lead to premature deaths.
  • Diesel exhaust contains other toxic chemicals such as benzene and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons that are known or suspected of causing cancer.
  • The Chicago metropolitan area does not meet air quality standards for ground level ozone (smog) or particulate matter. As a result, more than 8 million people in the area may be exposed to increased levels of these pollutants.
  • Those people most at risk include children and the elderly and people with existing heart disease, lung disease, or respiratory problems.
  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) estimates that nonroad diesel engines in the Chicago metropolitan area emit more than 5,000 tons of particulate matter and 70,000 tons of NOx each year.

What are Nonroad Diesel Engines?

  • “Nonroad” includes all internal combustion vehicles and machinery that perform a task other than transporting people or materials on highways or streets.
  • Also referred to as “off-road” or “off-highway”, the nonroad category includes construction equipment such as bulldozers, excavators, graders, and backhoes. It also includes outdoor power equipment and farm or agricultural equipment.
  • · A typical piece of construction equipment such as a 175 horsepower bulldozer emits as much NOx and particulate matter as 26 new cars today.

The Diesel Exhaust Solution
New Nonroad Diesel Engines
· The federal government has proposed a program for new engines to reduce PM and NOx emissions by more than 90 percent through emission control technologies and low sulfur fuel requirements to be phased in over the next several years.
· USEPA estimates that by the year 2030, reduced diesel emissions could prevent 9,600 premature deaths each year, eliminate almost a million work days lost per year, and result in yearly savings of $81 million.

Existing Nonroad Diesel Engines

  • The existing fleet of nonroad diesel engines will not be subject to the new regulations, yet they may remain in operation for another 25 to 30 years. Nonroad diesel engines built since 1996 have had to comply with modest emission standards, with the focus on reducing NOx emissions. Emission standards have generally not addressed PM emissions.
  • Municipalities can have a significant impact on reducing nonroad diesel emissions because they control a large portion of yearly construction activities, either through their own equipment or that of contractors
  • Several options are available to owners and operators of nonroad diesel engines to reduce emissions. These include:
    • Retrofitting engines with pollution control devices
    • Replacing old engines with new engines
    • Using lower sulfur fuels or fuel additives (see below)
    • Limiting the time that diesel engines idle
    • Requiring contractors to use retrofitted equipment on construction projects.
  • Pollution control devices include oxidation catalysts that oxidize or burn harmful gaseous emissions & particulate filters that trap PM
  • Costs for retrofitting engines with pollution control devices vary depending on the technology used and the engine being retrofitted.

Nonroad Diesel Fuel
Sulfur can contaminate high-efficiency emission control systems used on diesel engines. On average, nonroad diesel fuel has sulfur levels of about 3,400 parts per million (ppm). On-road diesel fuel is currently limited to 500 ppm sulfur. Off-road equipment can use this on-road fuel or ultra low sulfur fuel which contains less than 15 ppm sulfur. Use of diesel fuel containing lower sulfur levels will provide immediate public health benefits by reducing particulate emissions. Also, the reduced sulfur content will lower the cost of maintaining engines.


Voluntary Retrofit Program Information
Proposed standards do not address existing nonroad diesel engines, and equipment with these existing engines could be in service for the next 25 to 30 years. As a result, strategies are being pursued to make existing diesel engines cleaner, such as the USEPA’s Voluntary Diesel Retrofit Program. To encourage implementation of voluntary diesel retrofits at the community level, Clean Air Counts is providing grants to area municipalities to develop nonroad diesel retrofit programs.

Designing a Retrofit Program
Several options are available to fleet owners and operators who are considering improving the emission performance of their diesel engines. These options include retiring older engines; converting engines to run on cleaner, alternative fuels like compressed natural gas; and retrofitting older engines with modern emission control. In considering options, fleet owners and operators should evaluate the cost and benefits of each option.

The following list outlines several concepts that fleet owners should review to improve the odds of creating a successful diesel retrofit project.

  • Identify and characterize the fleet and group the engines into subfleets based on similar characteristics.
  • Understand which retrofit technologies are good choices for the engines in the fleets. (USEPA’s Verified Technology List provides a table of all retrofit technologies verified to produce measurable emissions reductions. New technologies are added to this list periodically)
  • Calculate the tons of emissions reductions the retrofit project can generate. USEPA’s Emissions Reductions Calculator allows users to investigate many different scenarios for the retrofit.

In selecting equipment to be retrofitted, fleet owners must consider several factors, as follows:

  • The age of the equipment: older equipment generally produces more emissions than newer equipment.
  • How much the equipment is used: greater emission reductions are usually realized by retrofitting equipment that has a high use rate.
  • The emission profile for the engine: emission profiles for engines 1998 and newer can be obtained from the USEPA.

If emission profiles are not available for specific engines, several generalities can be applied to help determine which pollutants are potential targets for reduction:

  • Engines that operate at higher loads may be good candidates for NOx reduction because their engines get hotter.
  • Vehicles with larger displacement engines may be good candidates for HC reduction, especially if they operate at low loads
  • Vehicles with fast or frequent load fluctuations may be good candidates for PM reduction.
  • Engines that use excess oil (more than 1 percent of the fuel volume) should be rebuilt before they are retrofitted.

In addition to retrofitting municipal fleets, local governments can require that construction contractors used for public works projects also implement measures to reduce diesel emissions.

 
 
 
 
 
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