Could clean diesel tech help eliminate drayage related pollution?

Proponents of so-called “clean diesel” truck engines say the technology can be used as a near-zero emissions bridge to help ports eventually reach the goal of transitioning all terminal equipment to zero emissions.    When the adjoining Los Angeles and Long Beach seaports approved an update to their Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) environmental initiative in November, one point made in the final version of the plan’s language was that the ports need to move away from continued dependence on fossil fuels. But it may surprise some to know that one component in the plan to wean itself off of traditional diesel equipment is investing in, among other new and emerg- ing technologies, so-called “clean diesel.”
   Clean diesel is being counted on as a near-zero emissions technology that can be used a bridge to help the ports eventually reach their stated goal of transitioning all terminal equipment to zero emissions by 2030. Under the updated CAAP, the goal is to transition the current drayage truck fleet to near-zero technologies in the near-term and ultimately zero-emissions technologies by 2035.
   Part of that strategy is clean diesel, which on the surface sounds like an oxymoron akin to “jumbo shrimp,” but is actually a system comprised of ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel, as well as advanced engines and the latest effective emissions control technologies. The three together combine to produce near-zero, smoke-free power, according to experts.
   Clean diesel contains 97 percent less sulfur than earlier types of fuel, according to the Diesel Technology Forum, a Washington, D.C.-area based non-profit dedicated to raising awareness about diesel engines. To date, a transportation fuel source with a higher energy density and availability than clean diesel has yet to be found, the Diesel Technology Forum says.
   “The newest generation of clean diesel technology achieves near-zero levels of NOx (nitrous oxide) emissions and particulate matter emissions, while also maintaining an efficiency and performance advantage over other fuels,” Diesel Technology Forum Executive Director Allen Schaeffer said in an interview with American Shipper.

Ongoing Demonstrations. The San Pedro Bay ports’ investment in the technology, according to its CAAP update, includes ongoing demonstrations of zero-emission truck technologies, including diesel plug- in hybrid trucks capable of operating in “zero-emissions mode” for short distances.
   Advances in electronic controls, rail fuel injection and variable injection timing, chamber configuration, and turbocharging have made newer diesel engines cleaner, quieter and more powerful than ever, Schaeffer remarked.
   “Combined with the latest diesel particulate filters and selective catalyst reduction technologies, the newest clean diesel engines offer one of the fastest paths to NOx and particulate matter reductions, especially for ports,” Schaeffer added. “Thanks to these new clean diesel systems, it takes about 60 of today’s trucks to generate the same level of emissions as one truck from 1988.”
   On average, 30 percent of the U.S. trucking fleet has adopted the newest clean diesel truck engines and emissions control systems, but drayage trucks only make up about 2 percent of the total U.S. commercial vehicle fleet, according to the Diesel Technology Forum. In the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, an estimated 16,000 drayage trucks are in operation on a daily basis.
   Clean diesel technology already has a proven track record of helping the San Pedro Bay ports lower emissions. A provision in a 2012 CAAP update requiring the ports’ truckers to switch to newer generation engines resulted in the overwhelming majority of truckers choosing clean diesel over other fuels.
   The net result? The ports achieved their particle matter (PM) emissions reduction targets set for 2023 more than six years ahead of schedule, and are close to achieving their NOx reduction goal, also ahead of schedule, according to data from the ports.
   “Replacing the oldest dray trucks in particular offers one of the fastest, most cost-effective routes to lower emissions and better air quality at our nation’s ports,” Schaeffer said. “In the massive Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, by replacing the 55 percent of the dray truck fleet that does not come with the latest generation technology with a clean diesel model that meets the model year 2010 standard, the ports could reduce emissions by 1.9 million lbs. of NOx.”
   By allowing an option in the CAAP update for port operators to choose clean diesel technologies, the ports ensured that operators had environmentally responsible options, even while they investigate future technologies, Schaeffer said.
   And the Southern California ports aren’t the only ones cleaning up their act by leaning in part on clean diesel. At the Port of Oakland, transportation providers have committed to purchasing cleaner cargo handling equipment that will run on either clean diesel fuel or propane, and will adhere to the latest emissions requirements.
   In late October, freight hauler Impact Transportation said it plans to spend over $1 million on nine new forklifts and a yard tractor, all of which will run on either propane or diesel fuel.

Aggressive Adoption. Even before Impact Transportation’s announcement, diesel emissions from Oakland cargo-handling operations had already declined 82 percent since 2005, according to the port, thanks mostly to its own clean air strategy, which includes equipment upgrades by ten- ants. Officials at the Port of Oakland say they expect another 16 percent reduction by 2020 with help from drayage providers and marine terminals.
   “We put a very aggressive program together to accelerate that switch over to clean diesel,” Chris Lytle, executive director of the Port of Oakland, told American Shipper. “That’s resulted in the last 10 years in a reduction of 98 percent of diesel particulate matter [at the port]. That means in terms of diesel particulates, there’s not a lot left to do. But we’re not done, and we’re going to continue to try to do what we need to do.
   “I think already we’ve made a lot of progress, I don’t think anybody can deny that. But nobody’s saying, ‘Oh, we’re done.’ We want to keep pushing,” Lytle said.
   Port of Oakland spokesman Michael Zampa, who’s lived in the San Francisco Bay Area most of this life, said there’s a noticeable visual difference in air quality in and around the harbor in recent years.
   “You get much better air quality here than you had before. And it’s a combination of what the ports have done, state regula- tion, tenants working together, the smog checks, all those things have contributed,” he explained. “You can look into the sky and see it, and run your hands along the venetian blinds and not feel the soot. There’s qualitative and quantitative proof.”
   But one of the most encouraging parts of the emissions reductions efforts, said Zampa, is that the accomplishments are mainly due to stakeholder initiatives.
   “They’re all working together on this stuff,” he said of port tenants. “They’ve all lined up, nobody’s kicking and screaming. They’re not being dragged to church, they’re doing it [themselves].”
   There have been some stringent environmentalists in both northern and southern California who have argued against the use of clean diesel engines. They say that the only real solution to the problem of emissions at the ports is true zero-emissions equipment, and that low-emissions systems are simply a half measure.
   However, some of members of the shipping industry, like John McLaurin, the president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA), don’t see it that way.
   “Environmental justice groups want zero emissions—not clean diesel, not lower emissions. They want zero emissions. So any kind of fossil fuel is not going to be acceptable [to them] going forward, at least in the state of California,” McLaurin explained.
   “The zero-emission technology isn’t mature yet, and in an industrial sector setting, you can utilize near-zero emission and get 90-some-odd percent of the way there and do it fairly quickly,” he said. “But again, people find that unacceptable because it’s not zero. So the argument is made by some that you’re losing out on immediate air quality benefits to pursue something a number of years down the road, in the hopes that it develops a number of years down the road.”
   PMSA Vice President and General Counsel Michael Jacob said that because environmentalists’ “perfect” solution of zero emissions isn’t yet in place, a “good” solution like near-zero emissions shouldn’t be discounted.
   “If you’re doing diesel efficiently and its relatively clean, you’re producing a lot of efficiency out of existing equipment. Because you can’t have the perfect system, should you do nothing? No, you should get your diesel systems as clean as you can get them until there’s an economically viable and reasonably affordable system that exists,” he told American Shipper. “Those systems don’t exist, so what are you going to do, nothing? No, you’re going to use the cleanest diesel technology that you have.
   “It doesn’t matter if you’re getting out of the business of combustion engines, it’s how clean you can make diesel,” he said. “You can mitigate a lot of emissions reductions and you can move a lot of cargo a lot cleaner than we ever did.
   “Zero is a great goal to have,” he remarked, “but that doesn’t mean that it’s realistic for everybody right now, either.”

Cross-Country Efforts. It’s not just California and West Coast ports implementing clean diesel tech. In recent years, the Port of Baltimore set out to update over 170 older drayage trucks to those with the latest clean diesel technology, as well as upgrading 26 pieces of cargo handling equipment.
   Baltimore achieved this via a clean diesel grant program that provided up to $20,000 towards a newer vehicle and allowed owner-operators or fleet owners to purchase a more emission-efficient vehicle with a 2007 or newer engine. In October 2016, the port received a federal diesel emissions reduction grant of about $979,000, which it used to help with the equipment upgrades.
   “Anecdotal evidence tells us that dray trucks are often older than the typical U.S. fleet; they have often been the last priorities for upgrades, as many of them are privately owned and operated,” Schaeffer said. “Recognizing the potential for emission reductions, a few large U.S. ports have begun to incentivize and encourage drayage truck upgrades.”
   Although the Los Angeles and Long Beach seaports have a goal of moving to completely emissions-free equipment technology at their terminals within the next two decades, diesel technology appears to be on track to remain the dominant engine type for commercial vehicles.
   Recent projections by the Fuels Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing awareness of issues affecting the vehicles and fuels markets, forecast that by 2025, diesel will represent 95 percent of all commercial vehicles, while battery-electric, fuel cell and natural gas powertrains will still only make up about 3 percent of the commercial vehicle fleet.
   The data doesn’t make clear what percentage of drayage trucks figure to be operating on clean diesel by 2025, but with more U.S. ports moving away from traditional, emissions-heavy diesel and toward more environmentally friendly technologies, that number figures to be a substantial portion of the more than 100,000 now in use across the United States.