Houston fleets converting to water-diesel emulsions to cut nitrogen oxides

Diesel Fuel News, June 10, 2002 by Jack Peckham

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) announced last week that Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will convert its entire 400-vehicle fleet in metro Houston to diesel-water emulsion this summer, a big boost to Lubrizol's "PuriNOx" sales.

By January, any private construction contractors working on TxDOT contracts also must convert their metro Houston fleets to the low-NOx emulsion, part of Gov. Perry's newly-revised plan to try to get Houston within U.S. EPA "state implementation plan" (SIP) emissions reduction requirements.

Gov. Perry ordered that Houston drop its 55-miles-per-hour passenger car speed limit, with the emulsion-fuel mandate making up for the slightly higher emissions from gasoline cars running at 70 mph.

It's also possible that municipal and school fleets in metro Houston eventually will be pressured to convert to emulsion fuel as well, a TxDOT source told us. Houston runs neck-and-neck with Los Angeles for worst air pollution in North America and is in danger of losing its SIP approval (see related story, p8).

Meantime, Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) is expected to announce grants to several local Houston fleets later this month to help offset the higher cost of the emulsion fuel.

Lubrizol, maker of the PuriNOx emulsion, is expanding supplies of the clean fuel to Houston this summer to meet surging demand.

The company makes two versions of its fuel blending unit -- one a 5 million gallon/year blender, the other a 25 million gallon version. "We hope to install a number of these [in metro Houston] in the next few weeks," Lubrizol's world-wide emulsions commercial manager Andres Serrano told Diesel Fuel News. "This is close to being one of our biggest deals for PuriNOx to date."