WHY MEETING UPCOMING EMISSIONS STANDARDS WILL REQUIRE A MAJOR COLLABORATIVE EFFORT BETWEEN BOTH THE AUTOMOTIVE AND OIL INDUSTRIES
Having worked in the automotive industry for more than 25 years I am acutely aware of how we often end up using our own terminology without a second thought for those who don’t work in the auto business. As a result, during some conversations, a blank stare often results unless you take the time to explain what you mean.
Take for example the term “systems approach.” It is not a technical term but has a variety of different meanings beyond the context of the automobile itself. When applied to a vehicle, the “systems approach” label generally means that we are looking at the car and the fuel it uses holistically as one system. For an automobile to function efficiently, the mechanical (and increasingly) the electronic componentry needs to have a symbiotic relationship with the fuel that is placed into the tank.
If the fuel is not formulated in the right manner, the vehicle simply won’t operate as intended, no matter how sophisticated the electronics and hardware might be. Using incorrectly formulated fuel will result in decreased performance, increased fuel consumption and greater emissions or a combination of all three.
MORE STRINGENT STANDARDS
Over the course of the last three years, Canada has charted a course that follows the U.S. when it comes to regulating greenhouse gas emissions reductions from 2011 through 2025. Typical decreases over the last three decades had been in the order of 1-2 per cent per year, however, reduction targets through 2025 will be in the order of 5 per cent. By 2025 vehicles are expected to consume 50 per cent less fuel and emit 50 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions than in 2008. A significant amount of technology will need to be applied to each vehicle in order to reach those objectives and it won’t come cheap.
In applying such technology to improve fuel efficiency however, we run the risk of increasing smog-causing or criteria air contaminant (CAC) pollutants. This is because some technologies, such as “lean burn” require an engine air/fuel ratio that is leaner than the ideal 14.7 parts air to 1 part of fuel (also known as the stoichiometric ratio). While this allows the engine to burn fuel more completely, thus reducing hydrocarbon emissions and improving both fuel efficiency and performance, the downside is that leaner mixtures increase oxides of nitrogen that contribute to smog formation and acid rain. These NOx emissions can be dealt with by employing sophisticated catalytic converters, however the ability of the vehicle’s catalytic converter to optimize the reduction of NOx relies to a large degree on the chemistry of the fuel that is put into the gas tank.
REDUCING SULPHUR
The sulphur content of gasoline has a significant bearing on the performance of the vehicle’s hardware, specifically the catalytic converter. While naturally occurring in gasoline, sulphur effectively poisons the converter, lowering its effectiveness in reducing NOx and other pollutants from the vehicle’s exhaust. While Canada and the U.S. have decreased the allowable content of sulphur in gasoline from a cap of 300 parts per million (ppm) to a cap of 80 ppm and an average sulphur content of 30 ppm through the introduction of Tier II emission standards in 2004, the new technology required to meet the 2025 greenhouse gas emission standards will require fuel with even lower sulphur content.
In this regard, in early June of this year, the Government of Canada announced its intent to follow the U.S. by adopting Tier III emission standards — reducing emissions by a further 80 per cent below the existing Tier II levels. What is not often appreciated however, is that any reduction in gasoline sulphur content assists in helping all vehicles on the road operate more efficiently because of the impact high sulphur levels have on catalytic converters in general.
The reductions proposed under the new Tier III standards are taking both industries into an arena where significant resources will need to be expended to meet the new standards. For the automotive industry, without the new ultra low sulphur gasoline fuel standards, OEMs will not be able to deploy the full array of technology to meet aggressive greenhouse gas emission standards.
At times the oil and auto industries may not see eye-to-eye, but on the overwhelming majority of issues both work closely together, appreciating that at the end of the day they have one common customer that depends on both industries taking a ‘systems approach’ to the vehicle and the fuel it uses. This ensures that the consumer’s vehicle performs in the manner expected, is as fuel efficient as possible and that emissions are minimized to the greatest extent possible.
