Worldwide Diesel Specifications

Hi All,

Without trying to stir up the sometimes emotional debate on this excellent forum, about the quality of diesel fuel, just look at the numbers I found at Lubrizol (Wickliffe, Ohio USA ):
Wordwide Diesel Specifications

I think this table gives a great insight on the quality of diesel fuel all over the world. As I live in the Netherlands (member of the European Union) I will not complain about this (fuel)aspect of our membership!

Regards,

Maarten

Thank you for posting this link. This is very interesting information and coincides with what has been preached on this forum for many years. I did not realize that this great of a disparity existed between the US and the EU with regard to their fuels. I travel regularly to Germany/Austria/Switzerland and I see diesels smoking and I purchase green/unclear diesel fuel at the fueling stations but what is noticeable is the lack of odor from these fuels. I guess that the cleanliness of the fuel is where the big difference is. Very interesting.

Some of these numbers are results from samples while others are national standards, which may not necessarily reflect the product that is available at the pumps around the respective countries (at worst they are required by law to meet these minimum standards, but at the same time there are no limitations -- albeit usually also no incentives -- to exceed these standards).

Also, some of the specs are outdated or plain wrong. ASTM D975 for U.S. on-road diesel fuel has a maximum sulphur limit of 500 ppm, not 5000. And yes, while the EU EN590 puts a cap of 350 ppm sulphur, most countries are WAY ahead of this, with Sweden, Germany and a few others leading the pack to de-sulphurization of fuels.

Thanks for the useful link.

[ September 05, 2002, 08:21: Message edited by: TDIMeister ]