Talk:Ultra-low sulfur diesel
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[edit] Sulfur a lubricant?
The article says: "Sulfur acts as a lubricant in diesel, and by lowering the sulfur content there is a corresponding drop in the fuel's lubricity."
Do we have a source for this? I've heard that this is false: sulfur is just plain bad for fuel. The reason for this myth, I've heard, is that a common mechanism for removing sulfur from petrodiesel also breaks down larger hydrocarbon molecules that provide lubrication. That is, ULSD may have less lubrication, but it's not because sulfur is a lubricant, but because the process of removing the sulfur also broke down some of the fuel's inherent lubrication.
For example, [1] says "The processing required to reduce sulfur to 15 ppm also removes naturally-occurring lubricity agents in diesel fuel."
- It is absolutely true that sulfer acts as a lubricant. What doesn't make sense is that the gov't should be mandating the ULSD be 1 or 2% biodiesel as a way to phase biodiesel into the market. According to the studies I've seen 15PPM ULSD with 1% bio has the same lubricity as 500PPM dino.
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- If it's true that sulfur acts as a lubricant, do you have a source we can cite? All the sources I've found say the opposite, e.g., Chevron, NATSO, MassTransit, ...
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- According to your MassTransit source, "The hydrotreating that removes the sulfur will also result in lower lubricity with ULSD." This doesn’t make it clear that sulfur wasn’t the whole cause of the lubricity, and so I think someone just made an assumption. —Traal 17:42, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
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[edit] Canada and Mexico?
I assume Canada has harmonized its standards with the US? What about Mexico? Those buying a new diesel expecting ULSD fuel who travel are curious.
I know at least Canadian standards are the same. Here is an article about it [2]
[edit] Kerosene
Will this also affect kerosene? Since many diesel owners cut their fuel with kerosene in winter for easier start up, I thought there may be some problems. Mustang6172 05:06, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
