Synthetic Diesel and a small percentage of Bio help to lower emissions… In the trial as the synthetic diesel comes all the way from Malaysia…
Wayne Gerdes -
CleanMPG - June 30, 2010
Hino’s Sélega 8.9L Diesel HEV Bus set for trails using new synthetic fuel cocktail.
Beginning this July, Toyota, Hino and Showa Shell Sekiyu plan to fuel a fleet of diesel-electric hybrid transit buses by a CO2 emissions-reducing mixture of Fischer-Tropsch diesel (FTD) and hydrogenated biodiesel. The Fischer-Tropsch Diesel used in this trial is produced by Shell using a gas to liquids process (GTL) and produced at a plant in Malaysia.
The trials, which are funded by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) under the National Traffic Safety and Environment Laboratory (NTSEL)'s Next-Generation Environmentally Friendly Vehicles Development and Commercialization Project, aim to verify that a Fischer-Tropsch diesel-hydrogenated-biodiesel mixture can be used extendedly with unmodified vehicle components, such as fuel hoses and fuel injectors.
The trials will use a Hino Blue Ribbon City Hybrid, already in service as a Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Transportation transit bus, on various Tokyo routes until the end of December 2010.
Fischer-Tropsch Diesel is a family of cleaner-burning synthetic liquid fuels made through Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis that have combustion characteristics ideal for diesel engines and are virtually free from sulfur and aromatics. Fischer-Tropsch Diesel can significantly contribute to cleaner exhaust, with previous results under the NTSEL project demonstrating 50 percent less particulate matter, 20 percent less HC and 20 percent less CO in exhaust gas emissions compared to conventional diesel. Fischer-Tropsch Diesel is also expected to provide a cost-effective alternative to diesel, as it can be supplied through the existing fuel infrastructure, and is considered promising from the viewpoint of energy security, because it can be made from various sources, including biomass.
Toyota, Hino, and Showa Shell Sekiyu —together with NTSEL—have focused on the usability of Fischer-Tropsch Diesel since October 2005 and have been working to develop vehicles that run exclusively on the fuel and achieve a significant reduction in pollution. The companies have also been conducting road trials, such as the limited-term fleet trial held in December 2007 using Fischer-Tropsch Diesel powered carrier vehicles in and around Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture and between TMC's headquarters in Toyota City and TMC's Higashi-Fuji Technical Center in Shizuoka Prefecture.
The hydrogenated biodiesel used in this trial is made from vegetable oil. Hydrogenated biodiesel can be produced from a wide variety of ingredients, such as animal fats, in addition to vegetable oil, and is similar in characteristics to Fischer-Tropsch Diesel fuel.
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