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Press Room
On-road fleet trial using synthetic Fischer-Tropsch Diesel Fuel
2007-12-04
Toyota Motors Corp. (Head Office: Toyota City, Aichi, hereafter Toyota), Showa Shell Sekiyu K. K. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo, hereafter SSSKK), Hino Motors Ltd. (Head Office: Hino City, Tokyo, hereafter Hino), Shell International Petroleum Co. (hereafter Shell) and Toyota Tsusho Corporation (Head Office: Nagoya City, Aichi, hereafter TTC) started an on-road fleet trial using FTD (Fischer-Tropsch Diesel) Fuel from 4 December. This trial is one of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT)-funded research programmes under the National Traffic Safety and Environment Laboratory (NTSEL)?s ?development of next-generation, low-emission vehicles and putting them into practical use? project and will continue until March 2008.
FTD Fuel* is a family of cleaner burning synthetic liquid fuels made with Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis. It is virtually free from sulphur and aromatics. Earlier results in the test lab from this project demonstrated significant reductions in PM, HC and CO emissions from exhaust gas by approximately 50%, 20% and 20%, respectively, compared to those with conventional diesel. In addition to these benefits, FTD Fuel is expected to be a cost effective alternative fuel to diesel as it can utilise existing refuelling infrastructure. Furthermore, FTD Fuel is considered as a promising option from an energy security point of view thanks to its flexibility in feedstock, and by providing a pathway to renewable fuel from biomass.
Since October 2005 Toyota, SSSKK and Hino, together with NTSEL have focused on the usability of FTD Fuel. The objective of this study is to test the compatibility of FTD Fuel with existing fleets and develop FTD Fuel dedicated engines which can give further efficiency and emissions benefits.
The objective of this trial is to demonstrate that FTD Fuel can be used in existing fleets without modification even in the winter season and to investigate the influence of FTD Fuel on fuel hose and injection parts of the test fleet?s engines.
This trial will use carrier vehicles owned by Toyota Transport and will be operated in and around Toyota City, Aichi and between Toyota offices (Toyota Head Office and Higashi Fuji R&D Centre).
* As FTD Fuel, Shell GTL Fuel produced at a Shell MDS plant in Bintulu, Malaysia is used in this trial.
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