Hello, I'm not sure if this topic was covered elsewhere on the forum but here's my question.... How can ultra low sulfur diesel excavators or any other equipment be shipped and used in a country where there is no ULSD? Are there kits or tuning available to convert these machines to run on high sulfur diesel?
The answer is not straightforward, but basically it is NO. Any machine built with TIER 4 emission certification (I think the European equivalent is EURO 6) in the US MUST be run on ULSD. Failure to do that will result in the sulphur in the fuel "poisoning" the exhaust aftertreatment system. This wll put the machine into limp mode and light up the Diagnostic System like a Christmas tree. Machines built with TIER 3 emissions certification can be used on diesel that is not ULSD, provided that they do not have any aftertreatment system fitted. In other words they comply with the requirements of TIER 3 purely by way of design parameters such as compression ratio, fuel injection, valve timing and/or other engine parameters. If by that you mean from the manufacturer that originally built the machine. No.
Actually there was a program for awhile at Cat Dealers that would enable a machine to be exported to nonconforming countries. There was a lot of restrictions and paperwork and the changes had to be done by a dealer. The machine then had to carry paperwork showing delivery to a shipper for confirmation of it being out of the country. This was about five years ago during Tier 4 Interim. Does the program exist for Tier 4 Final machines now? Who knows? I've been out of the dealer network for those issues since I left the employment of a Cat Dealer.
Volvo was pushing their tier IV off the continent through Richie bros with certificate that when it would reach the destination, the supporting dealer would remove the emissions equipment and re flash the ecu to work without. That's been a personal b!tch of mine for a long time.
The only effect of sulphur is the rapid deterioration of engine oil. Engine oil has an initial TBN (Total Base Number), typically ranging from 9 to 13, TBN is the opposite of TAN (Total Acid Number). Hence, decrease in TBN number is the indication of increase in acidity in engine oil, it's deterioration. Engine manufacturers allow down to half of initial TBN of engine oil, they determine the oil change interval according to this. How sulphur (SO3) from diesel fuel results in acid formation in the oil? When you send exhaust gas into the combustion chamber (exhaust gas recirculation), water (H2O) in the exhaust gas, reacts with SO3. H2O+SO3=H2SO4=Sulphuric acid, kills the engine oil. What did we do for Komatsu engines? We just clogged the exhaust gas, it can't enter the combustion chamber. No gas, no headache.
Everything you said above is correct IMHO, with one exception - the word "only" in the first line. On an electronically-controlled TIER 4 or EURO 6 engine equipped with an exhaust aftertreatment system that uses either a diesel particulate filter (DPF) or that injects Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) as part of the aftertreatment system, or both, will not run on anything other than ultra-low sulphur diesel (ULSD) without generating all sorts of Codes in the engine management system and without the engine going into limp mode. Will the TIER 4/EURO engine run on high-sulphur fuel..? Yes it will, and your comments above apply. Will it run for long..? No. As soon as the aftertreatment system becomes "poisoned" by the sulphur the engine will go into limp mode and that's all she wrote. I had personal experience of this not so many years ago where customers were importing TIER 4 machines into a Caribbean country where the fuel sulphur was much higher than the 15ppm limit for ULSD. Engines generally ran for anything between 1 week and 1 month before going into limp mode. AFAIK the majority of the machines/vehicles were re-exported back to the US after the customers gave up on trying to get them to run on the locally-available fuel.
Thanks for good information on Caterpillar. In fact, in Komatsu, we didn't face limp mode, some fault codes appeared related to EGR, but didn't pay attention, still working without problems after 6 years. In case of Caterpillar, I've seen this, they claim they delete EGR system: https://www.dieselspec.com/egr-delete/caterpillar/
That information wasn't just in respect of Cat, it was general. The list below may not be complete but it's what I remember......... Pickup trucks from Ford & Chevy, mid-size trucks with Cummins & Nissan engines, large trucks with Cummins, Scania, Mercedes, & Volvo engines. Various types of small/medium construction equipment with so many different makes of engine I can't begine to start to remember them all. The OP wasn't talking about a Caterpillar machine as far as I can see. My reply was intended to be "generic".
When you say to clogged the exhaust gas, do you mean you plugged the exhaust gas recirculation?
Exactly, just clogged it with a metallic gasket at egr valve output.
OK? Do you then vent the excess pressure to the atmosphere? I've seen plugged breathers actually cause enough pressure in the crankcase to roll the rear main seal lips.
We just installed a gasket at the point shown in picture. We didn't let the exhaust gas to escape atmosphere, didn't create problem, if you've doubts, you can open that pipe to atmospheric pressure.
Marketing guys say that there exists unburned fuel in exhaust gas, engine uses them for higher efficiency. That's a funny argument, in diesel cycle (unlike Otto cycle) mixture is always poor, not a rich mixture. Honestly, the main purpose of EGR is to pollute the air fuel mixture, the aim is to get lower temperatures in combustion chamber. High temperature combustion means higher formation of NOX compounds (NOX is carcinogenic) and it's the main parameter in TIER (Euro) limitations.
Your diagram doesn't show where the crankcase gasses are going. Can you explain. Have the new engines with DEF done away with the cooled exhaust gas recirc?
It's not a full diagram but a page from structure and function section. We didn't see excess pressure (blow by) in the crankcase. one can just check it by blow by pressure. Didn't understand the last question, recirculated exhaust gas kills the combustion efficiency for the sake of lower combustion temperatures. High pressure common rail systems have been developed to balance this inefficiency, I mean, high pressure spray of fuel means more fuel surface area (more micro droplets), faster heat transfer for combustion.
To kill the combustion, they don't use only EGR, but they retard the injection timing, after Top dead center. Just to get cool combustion, lower temperatures. To get rid of, to balance these inefficiencies, high pressure fuel injection helps us.
The introduction of exhaust gas into the air intake is as you said, it changes the air fuel ratio by inputting what is essentially inert gas into the air stream which lowers the combustion temperature and makes less NOX. With the advent of DEF, that NOX production is changed in the exhaust stream before it goes to the atmosphere. The firing temperatures are now back where they were before the advent of Tier 4 Interim. I've seen little crankcase pressure from any of the Japanese engineered engines. However, the Cats and Cummins engines make profuse amounts of pressure. It is one of the key parameters I used before the advent of exhaust gas recirculation. The B series Cummins was good but put any time on a C series or M11 and vapor from the breather was a quick check on engine condition. Plug that breather hose up and you had leaks showing up on every joint with a gasket. I saw and documented the same thing with the Cat engines when they went from the C series excavators to the D series. With Tier 4 Interim the breather was replaced with the crankcase gasses pulled into the intake of the turbocharger with a filter between the crankcase and the turbo. Now I pull the dipstick up enough that the gases can escape for an indication of whether on not I need to take an oil sample.
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Dear All, Member @ Andrew Navarrete is in Ecuador. All construction machine manufacturer websites have a country selection item for customers. If you are in Ecuador, you will be provided with the right engine.
Example: Engine of KOMATSU PC210 for US and Ecuador market are difference as follow. US market = EPA Tier 4 final standard. Ecuador market = Equivalent to EU Stage 3A standard. Engine can use High Sulfur Diesel, of course.
Prepared for the May 2003 meeting in Napa, California, of THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON CLEAN TRANSPORTATION (ICCT) www.cleantransportcouncil.org By Katherine O. Blumberg Michael P. Walsh Charlotte Pera "Sulfur is the lead of the new century. Like lead, emissions of sulfur compounds cause serious human health and environmental concerns*. More importantly, sulfur inhibits the use of advanced technology to control total pollutant emissions, including NOx, HC, CO, and particulate matter (PM). Reducing sulfur levels in fuels will decrease the vehicle emissions of smog precursors and other pollutants that foul our air and choke our lungs."
"in diesel cycle mixture is always poor, not a rich mixture". Sorry, but I don't think so!! 1. You can see too much black smoke every time engine speed increase suddenly. That means "RICH MIXTURES". 2. The AFR (Air-Fuel Ratio) of Diesel engine is not a constant number, It decrease (rich mixture) when engine speed increase (due to engine need more power).
The initial question was can a machine built for a different country with harsher restrictions be modified to operate in another country was less restrictions. The answer depends on the attitudes of the manufacturers and whether or not they will provide the modifications necessary to allow that to happen.
I already mention here: Ultra low sulfer diesel equipment for export? The other example: KOBELCO SK200(210)-8, a)- Engine for EU, US, Japan... market use: HINO J05E-TA with EGR system . b)- Engine for South East Asia, Africa... market use: HINO J05E-TG without EGR system (they're called HS engine).
In the Cat world machines not equipped with emissions-control aftertreatment devices are referred to as being for LRC (Less-Regulated Countries) markets. In that sense "LRC" covers every country in the World other than those countries that apply either US EPA or EURO emissions standards. US-built engines carry a tag stating that they were not manuffactured to meet US emissions standard 40.CFR.1039 and that it is against the law for them to be re-iimported into the US after their initial export.