Arco Testing Cleaner Diesel Fuel

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Atlantic Richfield Co. is testing a new diesel fuel that could reduce air pollutants that spew from cars, trucks and buses.

Early tests on the fuel, called EC Diesel, resulted in a 15 percent drop in particulates and a 5 percent reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions, both components in smog, without reducing fuel

conomy, Arco officials said.

"Reductions of those kind are hard to get," said Tom Eichhorn, spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District. "If it were to become widely used, it could become very significant."

Eichhorn said EC Diesel's potential will not be fully known until testing is completed.

The Los Angeles-based oil company said it plans to test the new fuel in about 200 Southern California fleet vehicles, including buses and trucks. If results prove positive, the fuel could become commercially available in a few years.

"We're pretty excited about the possibilities of EC Diesel," said Roger Truitt, president of Arco Products, the company's refining and marketing arm.

Truitt estimates that Arco will spend nearly $2 million on developing the new fuel, which was created in the last year at its research facility in Anaheim.

About 740,000 diesel-powered vehicles will travel California's roads by next year. Breathing the particulates found in diesel exhaust is considered a major threat to the public. The Air

esources Board has declared diesel particulates a cancer-causing substance.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently set stringent new health standards for cities that could force a cleanup of diesels.

Scientists have spent years and billions of dollars trying to reduce particles — which are tiny pieces of unburned carbon — and the nitrogen oxides that form smog.

Dozens of new diesel technologies and fuels are under development, but experts say it's too soon to say which ones will turn out to be practical.

The Arco fuel is lower in sulfur and aromatics than current diesel, although the specifics are "classified information," said an Arco Products spokesman.

Truitt said the new fuel will cost about 10 cents to 15 cents more to produce in the relatively small 7-million gallon batch to be used during the yearlong test, expected to start at the end of summer. If the fuel is produced commercially, that premium probably would be smaller, he said.