Texaco Will Make Cleaner Diesel Fuel for Los Angeles

Texaco said Thursday that it will introduce a cleaner-burning diesel fuel, making it the second oil company to sell such a fuel in the Los Angeles area in anticipation of tougher clean-air laws.

Texaco officials said the reformulated fuel, known as System D Diesel, has been designed to meet tougher state and federal anti-pollution laws, both of which go into effect in 1993. Company officials said they can not say when the new diesel will be introduced in the Los Angeles area. The state must first complete a review of the formula.

Although no details of the formula were released, Lester A. Amidei, vice president of Texaco Refining & Marketing, said in a speech to the Petroleum Club of Los Angeles that the fuel will lower hydrocarbon emissions. He did not say how much.

Last June, Chevron introduced its lower-emission Chevron Special Diesel in the five-county Los Angeles area. Sun Co. is testing a cleaner-burning diesel in the Philadelphia area.

Even though gasoline has been held responsible for most of the air pollution in the Los Angeles area, diesel has long been a source of public ire because of its smelly and sooty emissions. Smog is caused primarily by the chemical reaction of gases in gasoline exhaust.

The microscopic particles in diesel exhaust pose the greatest health risk, said Bill Sessa of the State Air Resources Board. The particles--which often carry toxic compounds, such as the chemical benzine--can be inhaled and damage lung tissue.

“When you are on the freeway behind one of those big vehicles, and you get a black puff of diesel smoke, you are getting some fairly high exposure,” said Bill Kelly, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District. “You really can’t avoid it.”

By October, 1993, refiners of diesel fuel sold in California will be required to have significantly reduced sulfur and aromatic hydrocarbon content, both of which lead to the formation of soot. Aromatics also contribute to smog formation.

Unlike many major oil companies, Texaco has yet to introduce a cleaner-burning gasoline, saying that it is still testing different formulas. Within the past year, a number of oil companies have introduced cleaner-burning fuels.

Los Angeles-based Arco, which last year became the first oil company to introduce a reformulated gasoline, said it will eventually introduce a cleaner-burning diesel fuel as well.