mexbungalows
las peñas, michoacan, mexico
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Joined: 06/01/2007
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Hi Ed,
I meant that Celaya was refining 150 ppm low sulfur diesel. Gilberto mentioned that he thought that the refinery in Villahermoa Tabasco was allowed to retain more sulfur in their effluent but it still had to meet "BA" specifications.
I would also like to ask everyone reading the forum to vote in the upcoming election. Maybe in the aftermath things will calm down enough to allow folks to drive their RV's without taking out a second mortgage at the filling station.
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rocmoc
Tucson, AZ/Mexico
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Joined: 09/30/2006
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Available in Nogales, Son., MX.
rocmoc n AZ/Mexico
rocmoc n AZ/Mexico
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CASADT
Penticton, BC
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Joined: 06/14/2008
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Hi Ed White,
The writer of the following article has been travelling and RVing in Mexico for 40 years. I though his observations about the disposal of Sulphur to be an interesting slant on why Pemex is possibly slow in bringing ULSD to market in Mexico.
Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel In Mexico
By David Eidell (06/08)
----------------------------------------------------------------------To be clear, just about everything in this article is based upon conjecture or opinion
According to Mexicans, Americans always ask a veritable blizzard of questions about everything. I will try and fill in some missing information about the "How When Where And Why of Ultra-Low-Sulfur-Diesel in Mexico (Or at least why it's taking so long for Mexican refineries to start producing "UBA" diesel fuel). For a number of years I worked at a major oil refinery in the USA, and by coincidence worked in a "Sulfur Plant" where sulfur was extracted from fuels and lube oils. Therefore I think that I can offer a guess as to why Mexico is taking so long…
Sulfur extraction plants are not especially difficult to create but they do create a problem---what do you do with the sulfur –after- it has been extracted? Sulfur has to be kept at several hundred degrees F. in order to maintain it in an easily pump-able and transportable form. One of the prime uses of molten sulfur is to manufacture H2SO4 or Sulfuric Acid. This acid is used in dozens of various manufacturing processes. But if the market for sulfur is less than required, then a major step will be required to process the sulfur into acid, and then a secondary need for manufacturing process to utilize the sulfuric acid will have to exist. It would be prohibitively expensive to keep the material heated beyond what a heavily insulated tanker truck would provide.
Maybe someone can come up with a clever answer to this problem. I hope so because Mexico is purchasing its entire UBA diesel inventory from a US refiner to provide acceptable diesel fuel in the Mexican states bordering the US. If the fuel could not be certified as to being Ultra Low Sulfur then Mexican trucks could not legally enter the USA. We need less reasons for oil refiners to hold the trucking industry hostage price-wise because of a claimed shortage of acceptable fuel.
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Ed White
Kelowna, BC, Canada
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Joined: 01/30/2001
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Sulfur does not have to be maintained in a molten form in order to be useful or transportable. It is easily cooled into a crystalline form for transportation to the point of need in railcars.
In fact, one of the common ways of mining sulfur, as opposed to extracting it as part of a fuel refining, is to pump superheated steam underground to melt the sulfur. This enables it to be brought to the surface where some can be used in adjacent manufacturing facilities that need sulfur, or it can be processed into crystalline form for transportation by rail.
Anyone living in the Vancouver, BC area is used to seeing the huge piles of yellow sulfur on the North Shore where ships from around the world come to pick it up. It is transported from Alberta by rail.
Bottom line, I think it is extremely unlikely that dealing with the sulfur is causing the delay. It's more likely to be associated with getting funding approval for the necessary capital expenditures.
Look about halfway down the page, on the right hand side, at the following link, to see some of the piles of crystalline sulfur waiting for export in Vancouver:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur
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qtla9111
Monterrey, Mexico
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Joined: 09/17/2003
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For kicks I stopped by the Dodge dealer yesterday and took these pics. I wanted to know if they are selling the new diesel in Mexico or not.
This is a 2008 Dodge 2500 4X4 Crew Cab Turbo Diesel with sunroof, DVD, and all the goodies. They have it priced out the door at $42,000 dollars (11.0 exchange rate).
1998 Nissan Pathfinder
2004 Shadow Cruiser 18ft.
Living and Boondocking Mexico
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moisheh
North America
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Joined: 05/04/2002
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Chris:
Maybe one of the Dodge boys knows more but I do not see a DPF anywhere, just a muffler. The DPF would have electrical wires connected and I think they use a heat blanket in that area. If I am correct then that Dodge is a pre 2007 emissions unit. No reason to have a ULSD ste up when the fuel is not available everwhere. In one of the above posts an article by David Eidell states that the ULSD had to be available so the trucks could cross the border. Does not sound logical. The "mules" that cross the border are often trucks of the 60's. Lots of Detroits. Any early Detroit spews forth enough emissions to set off alarms 20 miles away. Why worry about a litle sulfur when these mules are polluting other chemicals. Just sit at the Nogales crossing for more than 30 minutes and your eyes tear.
Moisheh
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Ed White
Kelowna, BC, Canada
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Confirming that those pictures do not show any evidence of a DPF, or the air intake into the exhaust system to cool the gasses during regeneration. Even if the engine is a 2007.5 or later, the emissions system is not there.
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