Diesel Fuel Sulfur Control Rules

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Legislation & Regulations

40 CFR 80 § 500-620 This set of regulations establish fuel standards that reduce the sulfur content found in all transportation related diesel fuels. Specific provisions require:

• Highway, and Non-Road, Locomotive & Marine (NRLM) use diesel fuel meet a maximum specification of 15 parts per million (ppm) sulfur by 2014 with:
  • 80% of all highway use diesel compliant starting October 15, 2006;
  • Full compliance for highway use and non-road diesel fuel by December of 2010;
  • Full compliance for locomotive and marine use diesel fuel by 2012; and
  • Full compliance for NRLM use diesel fuel from small refineries by 2014.
• Pump labeling at fuel retailers and distributors.
• Annual and quarterly reporting on compliance for refiners, pipelines, terminals, and transporters.

Clean Air Act, Title II: Emission Standards for Motor Vehicles, Part A: Emissions & Fuel Standards, November 15, 1990 This act grants the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator the authority to establish regulations applicable to the emission of any air pollutant from motorized vehicles which “may contribute to air pollution that is anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.”

Updates, Comments & Other Reports

December 2007 EPA has revised the D&T forms to provide for reporting of additional grades of diesel fuel, including No. 1 and No. 2 motor vehicle fuel, non-petroleum diesel fuel, NRLM, and heating oil, both marked and un-marked.  Click here to access an Excel spreadsheet prepared to assist terminals in meeting D&T reporting requirements. Please note that there are three worksheets in the file: the first contains the reporting template, the second highlights instructions for each field, and the third is a reference document listing the CFR citations mentioned within the second worksheet.  These pages are formatted to print on legal-sized paper.  The original guidance provided by EPA is in eight PDF files.  For copies of these documents, please contact Peter Weaver at rpweaver@ilta.org.

ULSD Designate & Track Reporting Requirements Distribution terminals with truck loading are required to submit the following designate and track reports:

• DSF0501 – D&T Handoff Report (Quarterly with Annual Report to accompany the 4^th quarter) This document reports total transaction volumes completed during the quarter. Truck loading facilities MUST submit this report for all distillate received. Volumes of untaxed/un-dyed/unmarked distillates leaving these facilities under D&T must be reported as deliveries. Any taxed or dyed/marked, designated distillates delivered across a truck rack are INSTEAD reported on DSF0600.

• DSF0600 – D&T Total Volume Report (Quarterly with Annual Report to accompany the 4^th quarter) This allows for reporting of records the total volume for each designation of fuel, and each tax/dye/marker status applicable during the compliance period. Reports are to be filed separately for each facility.

• DSF0700 – D&T Facility Compliance Calculation Report (Annual Report with Quarterly Reporting for Truck Loading Terminals) This report provides statistics indicating compliance with the 80% requirement. Unless otherwise stated, all fields must be completed, designating “NA” in fields that are not applicable.

• DSE0700 – D&T Entity Compliance Calculation Report This optional report is similar to DSF0700, however it allows for calculations to be completed on a corporate basis rather than per facility.

EPA has posted a guidance document for preparing and submitting quarterly Designate & Track (D&T) compliance reports at http://www.epa.gov/tier2/frm/f01007.pdf. Reporting periods for the 2007 third and fourth quarter are January 1, 2007 – March 31, 2007 and April 1, 2007 – May 31, 2007 respectively. The deadline for submittal for these D&T reports is August 31, 2007.  To view future reporting schedules, please click here. The documents below may provide additional guidance on reporting procedures.

E-Reporting Guidance Document

EPA Fuel Reporting II: Quick Guide

Fuel Programs – Submitter Delegation

May 2007 As of June 1,2007 domestic refiners and importers will be required to reduce the sulfur content in non-road, locomotive and marine (NRLM) diesel fuel production to a maximum of 500ppm.  For refiners and importers located inside of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic (NE/MA) region««, terminals must begin to exclusively dispense 500 ppm NRLM diesel fuel by August 1.  Retail outlets must have it available exclusively by October 1.  Outside of NE/MA, neither terminals nor retailers will be obligated to meet the 500 ppm standard for NRLM until 2010.

The new 500 ppm sulfur requirement does not apply to heating oil.  Therefore within NE/MA, heating oil will be distinguishable from NRLM by sulfur content alone.  Yet beginning June 1 for retail sales outside of NE/MA, regardless of terminal location, all heating oil will have to be marked with 6 mg/L of yellow #124 solvent once it leaves a distribution terminal by truck.  Unchanged by this yellow dye requirement, IRS rules will continue to require all domestic heating oil to contain visible evidence of red #164 dye solvent. 

ééThe Northeast & Mid-Atlantic (NE/MA) region as defined under 40 CFR 80.510 (g)(1): Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Area includes the following states and counties: North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Washington D.C., New York (except for the counties of Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegany), Pennsylvania (except for the counties of Erie, Warren, Mc Kean, Potter, Cameron, Elk, Jefferson, Clarion, Forest, Venango, Mercer, Crawford, Lawrence, Beaver, Washington, and Greene), and the eight eastern-most counties of West Virginia (Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan, Hampshire, Mineral, Hardy, Grant, and Pendleton).

ULSD Standards Implementation Except for California and Alaska, all states must comply with the implementation schedules below. In California ALL diesel fuel is to be compliant by year end 2006.  A separate rule will be issued for the state of Alaska at a future date, given the rural nature of the state.

Implementation Schedule for Highway Diesel

Implementation Schedule for Non-Road, Locomotive &  Marine Diesel

Associated Topics

Dissipation of Static Electricity in Handling Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel

Every year a number of fires and explosions in petroleum product systems are attributed to spark ignition from accumulated static electricity. The documents listed below are useful resources for terminal operators concerned with this issue.

·        D-4865: Standard for Generation & Dissipation of Static Electricity in Petroleum Fuel Systems, © ASTM, International.  Section 6.8 confirms the risk of filling a large storage tank with a low-conductivity fuel, certainly to include ULSD. Section 7.2 specifically addresses line velocity reductions, suggesting 7m/s as the upper limit, or lower depending on other factors which may include relaxation time, splash loading, presence of unbonded charge-collectors, presence of an inert tank atmosphere, or presence of conductivity enhancing additives. To order a copy of this document, click here.

·        API RP 2003 – Protection Against Ignitions Arising Out of Static, Lightning & Stray Currents. © API. This report specifically discusses precautions related to storage tank loading and recommends a more conservative line flow rate than suggested in the above document, namely 3 ft/s specifically until the fill pipe is submerged an a floating roof, if present, is lifted. A new edition, containing information relating to ULSD, is expected early this summer. Click here to view a draft version of the new edition.

RELATED ILTA ARTICLES

ILTA provides a monthly newsletter to its membership. Members may log in to the Member Resources page to access archived newsletters. The following is a list of articles ILTA has published in its newsletter relating to Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel.

• EPA Issues Document on ULSD Labeling Requirements & Downgrading Restrictions, February 2007 Issue (p.4)
• 85 Percent of Diesel Fuel Meets ULSD Standard, January 2007 Issue (p.4)
• Terminals Report Progress in ULSD Transition, October 2006 Issue (p.4)
• ULSD Reporting Under ExSTARS is No Different from Low Sulfur Diesel, September 2006 Issue (p.3)
• Avoiding Static Accumulation in Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel, September 2006 Issue (p.6)
• RFG Survey Association ULSD Testing Consortium, July 2006 Issue (p.
• Uncertainty Prevails as the Transition Period for ULSD Approaches, June 2006 Issue (p.5)
• Reminder: ULSD Designate & Track Data Collection Begins June 1, 2006, June 2006 Issue (p.5)
• Clean Diesel Fuel Alliance Launches Communications Program about ULSD, May 2006 Issue (p.6)
• Loading ULSD at Terminals: Recommended Safety & Fuel Quality Procedures, April 2006 Issue (p.3)
• Handling Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel: Planning for the Pipeline-to-Terminal Handoff, February 2006 Issue (p.2-3)
• Petroleum Industry Continues to Face Intractable Issues in Preparing for ULSD, December 2005 Issue (p.2)
• ILTA’s Workshop on ULSD Generates High Turnout Among Terminal Members, November 2005 Issue (p.3)

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