EPA Crackdown on Deleted Trucks

Soot and ash are two completely different substances. Ash is an incombustible substance that comes from additives in oil, wear materials in the engine etc. Soot is from unburnt fuel. When soot is heated in the DPF, it doesn't turn to ash, it becomes catalyzed and goes out the stack as less harmful compounds. Ash gets trapped in the DPF filter and eventually plugs it as it is a non-combustible substance. When the DPF is removed for cleaning, it is to remove the ash from the filter. It actually resembles pencil lead once its blown out.

 

Most of you youngsters wouldn't be able to remember what it used to look like coming down the Grapevine into LA in the 60's & 70's. It truly was a brown cloud.......and tasted and smelled bad. I live in SoCal and can't remember the last time we had a AQMD "pollution alert".....so the regulations sure seem to be working.....and the truckers out here DO seem to be making money. Point of fact there are more pollution alerts in major towns outside of CA than in LA anymore......must be all those Super Truckers with their hot rods.

 

As someone who has to load surrounded by weed-burner equipped idling trucks (carhaul,) I'll take that over inhaling the raw fuel we used to inhale all the time! But it's not raw urea you're smelling.

I can stand in the exhaust stream of my def truck, not something you could do for any length of time with the old trucks, especially in the winter!

 

I stand corrected, I'll have to do some more reading.

 

Its amazing the science behind this stuff. I didn't realize how much of what gets posted on the internet is false until I got sent out to a 4 day training course on emission systems last summer. I too thought the soot got burned into ash. When the trainer explained that the DPF actually produces a chemical reaction with the soot it completely blew my mind.

 

Well, soot is incompletely burned fuel, a petroleum analogue to charcoal. Since diesel exhaust still has plenty of oxygen, getting the soot hot enough results in its combustion within the DPF.

Definitely surprised about it not contributing to the ash load, though!

 

Don't know why they couldn't just install an air pump.

Like when the catalytic convertor first came out.

Some vehicles pumped fresh air in to the convertor. Helped it run hotter to burn the exhaust better.
Others pumped right in to the exhaust manifold. Seems like it was Ford.

 

Ford pumped it right into the head in the last years of carbs.

 

The elephant in the polluted room..

I wonder how many people who complain about dirty air ever fly on an airliner or place an order to ship something 'next day' or 'overseas 3-5 days' for a non-emergency reason?
I feel sure that such vehement persons do not mind some inconvenience to avoid dirty aviation travel and shipping choices.

The sacred cash cow of air civil aviation is by far the biggest and worst engine-using polluter. The gummint is very slack on that industry in which excess fuel is sometimes dumped overboard into the air as well as emissions which can't be cleaned for practical reasons.

Additionally, the high altitude at which the pollution is exhausted multiplies the damaging effect of the engine emissions figures by 2.5x because of the climactic forcing effect.
About 60 percent of aviation emissions arise from international flights, and these flights are not covered by the Kyoto Protocol and its emissions reduction targets.[nasa-39] It's just ignored. Pretend it isn't there.
If the government, local or globally, really wanted to reduce pollution then they might do well to restrict domestic and international civil aviation usage to essential functions and emergency purposes.

Sea, truck, and rail are far cleaner. The family car is cleaner.
Just saying, the government dogs bark up the tree they are told -follow the money- ignore the grossest polluter, but give the public some highly visible scapegoats and downright fry the guy that deleted his system because the public loves a sensation. But never speak about civil aviation.

Medicine/medical transport, true emergencies, and getting to otherwise inaccessible places are examples of good uses for civil aviation, but the "convenience" of fast freight and personal travel is the biggest use.

Shipping Emissions Factors: [27]
Mode kg of CO2 per Ton-Mile
Air cargo --- 0.8063
Truck --- 0.1693
Train --- 0.1048
Sea freight --- 0.0403

There is more data to find and consider. Someone else can do that if they want.

 

Up to last year , I owned a car that was named a Green Car of the Year . Did I own it because it was “green” ? No . If the public wants green products, let the public buy them , not force them down people’s throats.