SACRAMENTO, Calif., (Nov. 29, 2004) — Where else but the Golden State? A California Air Resources Board (CARB) order regulating transport refrigeration unit (TRU) diesel engines has been approved by the Office of Administrative Law and will become operative December 10, 2004.

The rule — titled the Airborne Toxic Control Measure for In-Use Diesel-Fueled Transport Refrigeration Units (TRU) and TRU Generator Sets, and Facilities Where TRUs Operate — applies to any owner or operator of diesel-fueled TRUs and TRU gen-sets installed on trucks, trailers, shipping containers, or railcars.

This regulation also applies to facilities located in California with 20 or more loading dock doors serving refrigerated areas where perishable goods are loaded or unloaded for distribution on trucks.

According to the rule document obtained by Today’s Trucking, CARB will use a phased approach to reduce the diesel PM emissions from in-use TRUs and gen-set equipment used to power refrigerated shipping containers and trailers that are operated in California.

The rule establishes new in-use emission performance standard categories for TRU and TRU gen-set engines. For example, operators are not permitted to run TRU and TRU gen-set engines with rated brake horsepower less than 25 hp and engine certification standards of .30 g-hp/hr, or greater than 25 hp at .22 g-hp/hr — or if the equipment does not meet what it calls an “appropriate Verified Diesel Emission Control Strategy (VDECS) level.”

According to the regulation, Verified Diesel Emission Control Strategy means “an emission control strategy designed primarily for the reduction of diesel particulate matter emissions that has been verified per the verification procedure as well as warranty and in-use compliance requirements.”

Examples of diesel retrofit systems that may be verified include — but are not limited to — diesel particulate filters; diesel oxidation catalysts; fuel additives (e.g. fuel-borne catalysts); alternative fuels such as natural gas, propane, ethanol, methanol, or advanced technologies that do not rely on diesel at an average ratio of less than 1 part diesel fuel to 10 parts total fuel; and combinations of the above.

An owner/operator may operate a TRU or TRU gen set by also meeting Alternative Technology options such as using electric standby technology (see following TT.com story), provided that the TRU is not operated under diesel engine power while at a facility; Cryogenic temperature control systems or hybrid cryogenic temperature control systems; Usage of alternative fuels listed above or powered by fuel cells.

Only engines for which certification data and deterioration factors have been provided to CARB shall be considered when determining compliance. The Executive Officer will consider such submittals, publish, and make available a list of qualifying engines.

The Ontario Trucking Association has also made available to its members a detailed compliance list.

Reefer unit engines aren’t all CARB is targeting. Other equipment like Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) may be on the endangered list as well. A member of CARB’s staff, Stephan Lemieux, told attendees at the National Idle Reduction Conference this summer that the agency is considering a ban on use of diesel-powered APUs beginning in January 2007.

Trucks could have them, but not use them while in California. Instead, they could idle their main engines, which CARB allows in most areas for sleeper-equipped trucks until early 2009.

CARB’s argument is that in 2007 new federal exhaust emissions limits for truck diesels will make them cleaner than the small diesels used by APUs, and “it doesn’t make any sense to allow APU idling if they’re as dirty as regular diesels” built before ’07, Lemieux said.

But a small APU diesel uses a small fraction of the fuel consumed at idle by the main engine, so it should be judged on a per-hour basis, counter APU and anti-idling equipment suppliers. Furthermore, the say, APUs will soon get just as clean as ’07 tractor diesels as technology evolves.

“They’re looking at it in a very awkward way, ” Brad Bisaillon, sales manager for Toronto-based RigMaster Power, told Today’s Trucking recently. “The only thing CARB cares about is emissions. They don’t care about fuel consumption.

“They don’t take into account that a truck is going to burn over a gallon an hour, versus two-tenths per hour from an APU.”