Well, guys, I've been mucking around in diesel fuel websites, and so far I've come up with the following:
Diesel fuel definitions and specifications are established in ASTM publication D 975-96. Unfortunately, a copy costs $21, and I wasn't up to that. You'll find information at astm.org The info does indicate that they define 5 grades of diesel fuel oil, two for highway vehicles (low sulfur #1 and low sulfur #2--these are the two to which the Lubrizol site refers), two for other vehicle uses (#1 and #2), and one for stationary uses (#4).
A sequence of "Clean Air Act" laws also provides some useful information. Since October 1, 1993, it has been illegal for anyone to knowingly use diesel fuel with sulphur content above .05% by weight or with a cetane index number of below 40 in a highway vehicle. That date was set all the way back in 1976. Amendments in 1993, required that non-highway diesel fuel be dyed--not for environmental purposes, but to insure that the highway tax had been paid on diesel used on the highways. Starting October 1, 1994, every legal document published by the US Government has been available on the web (http://www.gpo.gov), unfortunately, again, the regulation on dying was issued before that date, and I haven't found it yet (it's 58 FR 63069, "not available").
The current EPA clean air laws envision a massive reduction in oxides of nitrogen, oxides of sulphur, and particulate matter from diesel emissions by 2004. The EPA, the Calfornia regulatory agency, and the diesel OEMs have reached an agreement for staged revision in engine design. The Eurpoeans are going to be as strict or stricter. The Lubrizol site has a good summary; you'll find the document itself in the Federal Register. With regard to sulphur, the aim is extend the .05% limit to all diesel vehicle uses, and increase the minimum cetane number to 45 (the Europeans propose 50, but may be using a different method of calculation, as with octane numbers).
The EPA is presently concentrating on utility companies ("non-mobile sources" in government-speak), which presently account for 70% of all non-highway grade diesel use. Off-road vehicles use about 20%, and account for about 10% of all diesel emissions. I know that Bill sees utility companies as a prime consumer of GRNO diesel.
I also saw in OilWorld (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepage/) that the current spot price of high sulpur #2 diesel on the barge in New York harbor is about $0.56 per gallon. Bill says that prices are about $0.05 higher in South Carolina.
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