Göran Nyberg, president of Volvo Trucks North American Sales and Marketing announces Volvo’s DME strategy.

SACRAMENTO, CA. — If you’ve been hesitant about purchasing a natural gas truck, you may want to keep holding off for a couple more years.

Volvo Trucks North America announced yesterday plans to begin production of dimethyl ether (DME) powered class 8 trucks by 2015, bringing another alternative fuel to the North American market, one that they say is comparable to diesel in performance, but burns clean, producing no soot.

The kicker, however, is that DME can be produced from a variety of sustainable domestic sources, including natural gas.

The Fuel

Volvo made the announcement in Sacramento, California — an obvious nod to that state’s focus on the environment — and were joined by executives from Oberon Fuels, which is handling initial commercialization of the fuel in North America.

DME can be made from anything that contains methane, explained Oberon President Rebecca Boudreaux, Ph.D. So think food, animal waste, wastewater and landfills, and natural gas. It’s non-toxic, too, and is already used in hairspray and other products, she noted.

In March of 2008, Volvo presented a study on environmentally friendly fuels and brought seven alternative fuels to Congress: biodiesel, methanol, ethanol, CNG, LNG, synthetic diesel and DME.

“DME tested the best out of these fuels,” said Göran Nyberg, president of Volvo Trucks North American Sales and Marketing.

Volvo’s Ed Saxman, marketing product manager, Alternative Fuels, explained that they measured the diesel gallon equivalent of LNG, CNG and DME. In terms of diesel equivalent, DME and CNG both need twice the amount to match diesel. “LNG only has half of energy of diesel. You want to pay for the energy you buy, not the amount of fuel,” he said.

Saxman also noted that DME doesn’t thicken like diesel in colder climates, and that they expect it to perform “very well” in Northern regions.

“The fuel packages densely enough on a truck to support long range transports, or to allow room for vocational equipment on the frame,” Volvo said. Cryogenic temperatures aren’t needed, and it handles and stores more like propane than anything, requiring tank pressures of 75 psi versus CNG’s 3,600 psi.

All of that also means lighter and cheaper tanks. “We can package DME on a truck with greater range,” Saxman said. “A 600 mile range will be possible within appropriate daycab wheelbase.”

The steel DME tank is lighter and cheaper than its natural gas cousins.

The Engine

Volvo will make the new technology available in their D13 engine. Nyberg said that they have already done 650,000 miles of testing in conjunction with customers, both in North America and in Europe.

It’s a compression ignition fuel versus a spark ignition, and you won’t be able to retrofit an existing engine, Saxman explained, primarily because DME needs two times the fuel flow that diesel does. That means a new fuel injector.

Saxman said that they’re getting less heat rejection, lower exhaust temperatures and with the similarities to diesel, they can get comparable horsepower. Intially, they expect 425 horsepower with 1750 lb.-ft. torque, followed by a 500 horsepower, 1750 lb.ft.

Saxman listed off what a DME engine doesn’t need: no diesel particulate filter; no regen, active or passive; no seventh injector; no exhaust gas recirculation; no EGR cooler; no EGR valve and no variable geometry turbo.

“We may need to use SCR initially, but there is the potential to remove later,” noted Saxman.

“This engine design is back to basics, and we’re confident we can produce one out of the box.”

Volvo said they have no hard numbers as to what a DME-powered truck will cost, but with less components needed on an engine that uses a sustainable, efficient fuel, they expect it to be competitive with diesel- and CNG-powered trucks.

Oberon showcases the fueling station.

Chicken and Egg: Infrastructure

Infrastructure is always a big question mark when it comes to introducing a new fuel, but Oberon Fuels said it has found the solution.

“We can bypass infrastructure,” Boudreaux said. “You take regional markets with waste, convert there and involve local trucking companies.”

Oberon has developed a small scale processing plant that can be moved to where it’s needed. Instead of bringing the feedstock to the plant, the plant can be brought to an area with an abundance of feedstock.

The idea is to start small, delivering as needed — a hub and spoke model. Much of propane’s infrastructure can be re-purposed with a few alterations to storage tanks, but it allows for on-site fueling at the customers yard.

“Cost-effective, regional fuel production addresses the distribution issue, and offers the potential to bypass the need for a national fueling infrastructure,” Boudreaux said, “while reducing the carbon footprint associated with transporting the feedstock and the fuel produced.”

The first of Oberon’s production units will go online in June in California’s Imperial Valley region.

Watch for more on DME in an upcoming issue of Today’s Trucking.