Clean Fuels

Clean Fuels – Essential for optimal vehicle emission performance!

Clean fuels are essential for the proper operation of a vehicle since the vehicle's emission control equipment and the fuel used form an integrated system. The fuel going into a vehicle affects the amount and type of emissions coming out of the tailpipe.

Pollution Management Applied to Vehicle/Fuel System. (Click on picture to enlarge)

Canadians have benefited from the widest selection of vehicles that provide the lowest emissions and are equipped with the most comprehensive safety systems at some of the lowest vehicle prices in the world. All of these benefits have been available to Canadians due to the alignment of vehicle related safety and emission regulations across the integrated North American market. Canadians are now able to purchase vehicles meeting the same stringent Tier 2 emissions standards for light duty vehicles as their American counterparts – these emissions standards are the most stringent national standards in the world.

The emissions that come out of the tailpipe of a vehicle are directly related to the combustion and chemical composition of the fuel that is being consumed, as well as the engine and emission control technology used to reduce those emissions. While vehicles are designed and tested in the laboratory with high quality fuels, the actual emission performance of a vehicle is very dependant upon the fuel that is being used by the customer in their daily driving.

Vehicle manufacturers and fuel producers are working cooperatively in the interest of Canadian motorists.

Positive changes to the chemical properties of fuels available to Canadians have an immediate and significant impact on improving air quality. Because every engine, big or small, new or old, that uses cleaner fuel keeps the engines and emission controls at optimum performance and produces fewer emissions. As vehicles use increasingly advanced emission control systems, the need for "clean fuels" of consistent high quality becomes more crucial. For these new and future advanced technology vehicles, cleaner burning fuels will help minimize emissions and help meet the increasingly stringent emission requirements demanded by Canadians and the government.

In Canada, vehicle manufacturers and fuel producers are working to ensure that the subject of vehicle-fuel compatibility does not become an issue for their mutual customers – Canadian motorists.

CVMA Position: Need for a National Clean Fuel Strategy

It essential that appropriate fuel is available in the marketplace coincidental with the introduction of advanced emission control technologies to ensure these technologies perform as designed. The entire auto industry has recommended that the Government of Canada (Environment Canada) adopt a national clean fuel strategy to support the advancements in vehicle technology, encompassing a broad range of fuel attributes (for gasoline and diesel), as well as fuel additives. These attributes include factors such as low (near-zero) sulphur levels, appropriate vapour pressures, effective detergency performance, higher cetane (diesel), and no ash-forming additives. Environment Canada should focus on factors having a direct impact on air quality improvement and which ensure that vehicle emission control technology operates as designed. By doing so, Canadians will be assured that they are receiving the full environmental benefit from their emission control equipment for which they are paying. The national clean fuel strategy should be guided by the World Wide Fuel Charter as appropriate for gasoline and diesel fuel in the Canadian market in order to fully realize the emission reduction potential of current and future emission control technologies. The CVMA is encouraged that the Government of Canada, specifically Transport Canada and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, stated for the record at the April 2001 meeting of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development, their agreement with the general objectives of the World Wide Fuel Charter.

World Wide Fuel Charter

The CVMA and its member companies, along with other automakers and engine manufacturers from around the world, endorse the fuel specifications defined in the World Wide Fuel Charter (WWFC). The Charter was first established in 1998 to promote a greater understanding of the fuel quality needs of motor vehicle technologies. The latest edition of the Charter (3rd edition) was published in December 2002.

The WWFC has a very clear objective: to develop common world-wide recommendations for ‘quality fuels', taking into consideration customer requirements and vehicle emission technologies, which in turn, benefit customers and other affected parties. The WWFC outlines four different categories of fuel quality which have been established for unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel. For markets with further advanced requirements for emission controls and to enable sophisticated oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter after-treatment technologies, such as those in the U.S. and Canada, the WWFC recommended Category 4 type fuels as the minimum that will provide consumers with the lowest vehicle emissions and the best performance of advanced emission technologies. Vehicle engine and emission technology is developed with fuel that are similar to those in the WWFC.

In Canada, the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) publishes a voluntary standard for the general requirements of unleaded automotive gasoline (CAN/CGSB-3.5). The specifications of the CGSB standards are a consensus of input from Canadian refiners and fuel additive manufacturers, with some input from government and other users. Considering automakers concerns were often not given much weight and as the CGSB gasoline standard is not mandated nationally across Canada, vehicle manufacturers declined to participate further in the CGSB standing setting process in 1998. Instead, vehicle manufacturers have focused on recommending detailed, world-wide harmonized specifications for fuel quality that should provide guidance to refiners and regulators to ensure that gasoline and diesel fuel meet current and future vehicle performance and emission requirements.

Oil companies are beginning to accept the objectives of the WWFC. In the context of reformer technology that will provide hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) from hydrocarbon fuels, certain fuel providers such as Exxon Mobil, have indicated the following in regards to what type of hydrocarbon fuel will be needed for the future: "Our target is a fuel for FCVs and ICEs, and we will use the World-Wide Fuel Charter Category 4 Gasoline as a starting point." (Hart's Fuel Conference, March 2001)

Sulphur in Gasoline (and Diesel)

The CVMA has supported Environment Canada's regulations to progressively reduce the average sulphur concentration in gasoline to 30 parts per million (ppm) by June of 2005. Certain refineries are already making such fuel available to motorists in advance of the regulation's effective date. While this level of sulphur is significantly lower than the current (2003-4) Canadian average of 150 ppm and the recent cap of 1000 ppm, 30 ppm is the allowable gasoline sulphur level that current Tier 2 technology cars and light trucks need to meet the requirements of the standards. Environment Canada's intention to regulate the concentration of sulphur in diesel to 15 ppm maximum at point of retail by 2006 is also welcomed by CVMA member companies.

Sulphur in gasoline is a problem because it substantially reduces the efficiency of the catalytic converter by poisoning the catalyst. It is well documented that sulphur raises vehicle emissions across the board including hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOX), toxics and particulate matter (PM) and may cause irreversible damage to certain emission control components.

Future advanced technologies such as direct injection engines and lean burn engines are likely to be used in meeting future vehicle emissions and other goals. Direct injection and lean burn technologies require the use of a new technology known as NOx adsorber catalyst, in order to reduce oxides of nitrogen to the low levels required under the Tier 2 emission regulations. Unfortunately, almost any amount of sulphur in the fuel would require perpetual catalyst regeneration resulting in premature failure of the adsorber. Just a 2% loss in NOx catalyst efficiency will double emissions and cause the vehicle to fail the Tier 2 regulation.

CVMA Position on Sulphur in Gasoline:

It is essential that the Government of Canada provide a strategic plan to implement policy that ultimately ensures the removal of sulphur to below detectable levels from motor fuels in order to achieve maximum vehicle exhaust emission performance and preserve the integrity of the combustion technology and emission control system.

Ash-Forming (Metal-Containing) Fuel Additives

The World Wide Fuel Charter clearly states that ash-forming metal additives can leave deposits that adversely affect the operation of catalysts and other components, such as oxygen sensors, in an irreversible way that increases emissions. Therefore, high-quality gasoline should be used and ash-forming metal additives must be avoided. This is essential because today's emission control equipment use advanced catalysts and exhaust gas sensors to provide precise closed-loop fuel control. In order to maintain low emissions for the useful lifetime of a vehicle (now a legal requirement under Tier 2 emissions regulation) these must be kept in optimal condition. Metal additives containing lead, manganese, and iron are examples of ash-forming additives and that must be avoided.

Manganese-based Gasoline Additives:

Following considerable debate, the Manganese-based Fuel Additives Act was passed in 1997 restricting the interprovincial trade and importation of manganese-based additives. However, in June of 1998 this restriction was rescinded in response to a process-based recommendation issued by a dispute settlement panel established under the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT). In a July 20th 1998 news release, Environment Canada acknowledged that several studies in Canada and the United States were being undertaken to assess the impact of manganese-based fuel additives on automobile tailpipe emissions and human health and that when these studies were complete, the government would have them reviewed by an independent third party to determine if government intervention is warranted.

In July 2002, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers in the United States and the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association and the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers of Canada issued the results of an extensive, 6 year, $8 million (U.S.) study of the long term (100,000 mile/160,000 km) impacts of the fuel additive, methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT), on 56 vehicles from 6 automobile manufacturers. The findings of the study revealed that 7 out of 8 low emission passenger vehicles failed emissions certification standards when driven over time on gasoline containing the manganese-based gasoline additive. The findings from the study showed that low emission vehicles using fuel with the manganese-based additive had:

	31% higher hydrocarbon emissions
	24% higher oxides of nitrogen emissions
	14% higher carbon monoxide emissions
	2% higher emissions of carbon dioxide, and
	2% lower on-road fuel economy

Based on the study findings, further analysis was undertaken to estimate the impact of MMT on the total increase in emissions from the fleet of current and future advanced emission control vehicles. Specifically, the modeling analysis projected emissions for HC, CO and NOx emissions into the future for Canada. The analysis was based on the Environment Canada modeling study that was conducted to support On-Road Vehicle and Engine Emission Regulations (Tier 2 regulations). In particular, it focused on modeling the effects of the manganese-based gasoline additive over the same time period as that for the Tier 2 regulations using the new auto study as the basis. The analysis shows that eliminating MMT from Canadian gasoline, at current levels, will result in 32% annual reduction in smog causing (HC+NOx) emissions from the light duty gasoline fleet annually by 2020 compared to the Environment Canada study. This equates to avoiding the release of over 67,000 tonnes of smog causing emissions in a single year (2020). The more detailed report outlines benefits of removing this additive in terms of air quality improvements.

The auto industry and the oil industry have agreed that there is an urgent need to move forward with the establishment of a third party review panel to assess the impacts of manganese-based additives on vehicle emissions and component durability. Should the panel determine that such additives do degrade the durability of emissions controls and emission performance of vehicles, the auto industry strongly recommends that the Canadian government proceed without delay with a national fuel regulation prohibiting the use of manganese-based additives in Canadian fuels.

More to the Point:

The very stringent Tier 2 emissions control standards came into effect January 1, 2004. The entire fleet of passenger cars and light-duty trucks must meet these requirements with increased stringency through 2008. Without high quality clean fuels, absent of manganese-based additives, manufacturers will be negatively impacted in their ability to meet the new stringent certification requirements and the in-use emission performance requirements for the lifetime of the vehicle. Consequently, vehicles will be unable to deliver to consumers the driveability and performance characteristics they have come to expect and paid for. Manganese-based additives have been studied for some time and the study results indicate that they impair the proper operation of vehicle emission control systems.

CVMA member companies believe it is imperative that the government fulfill its promise and move forward in an expeditious manner with the independent third party review of studies undertaken to determine if government intervention is warranted to prohibit the usage of manganese-based additives in gasoline. Environment Canada has responded to both the auto and oil industries's concern by recently (December 9th, 2003) distributing a draft Terms of Reference for the third party review.