CARB opens ULSD, clean-lubes workshop this month

Diesel Fuel News, Feb 3, 2003 by Jack Peckham

Trend-setting California Air Resources Board re-starts public discussion on upcoming amendments to its "CARB diesel" rules for ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) and cleaner lubes for post-2006 diesel vehicles.

The February 20 workshop in Sacramento aims to gather opinions on whether California should continue with plans for an all-at-once switch to highway ULSD in 2006 rather than the four-year phase-in that U.S. EPA proposes, and when this ULSD switch should apply to non-road diesels. CARB had tentatively proposed a Jan. 30, 2007 deadline for non-road ULSD (see Diesel Fuel News 12/10/01, p10) while U.S. EPA is proposing such a switch to start either in 2008 or 2010 (see Diesel Fuel News 11/25/02, p1).

The new workshop comes two years after CARB first raised issues about ULSD lubricity and lube oil sulfur problems (see Diesel Fuel News 2/19/01, p9). Since then, CARB has talked about imposing a mandatory limit to replace the "voluntary" 3,000 grams BOCLE limit for lubricity (see Diesel Fuel News 12/23/02, p3), and mandatory limits on lube oil sulfur, phosphorous and ash, in order to protect diesel exhaust catalysts and filters.

Other issues for the Feb. 20 workshop include whether to "grandfather" ULSD versions of many refiners' already CARB-certified diesel formulas.