Ultra-clean fuel facility aims at reduced emissions

The Department of Energy (DOE) unveiled a new facility that will pioneer a new generation of ultra-clean transportation fuels to significantly reduce tailpipe emissions from cars, trucks and buses. The newly-constructed natural gas-to-liquids demonstration facility near Tulsa, Okla., is scheduled to begin production in early November. It will produce approximately 4,000 gallons of high-performance, sulfur free, environmentally-friendly transportation fuel per day from 1 million cubic feet of natural gas. Fuel from the facility will be tested in bus fleets operated by the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the National Park Service in Denali, Alaska. Plant construction costs are valued at over $40 million, of which DOE provided $16 million on a cost-share basis. The new ultra-clean fuels facility comes on-line at a time diesel engine manufacturers and fuel suppliers are soon to be challenged with meeting a new set of stringent Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards.