By David Eidell (06/08)
[To be clear, just about everything in this article is based upon conjecture or opinion]
According to Mexicans, Americans always ask a veritable blizzard of questions about everything. I will try and fill in some missing information about the "How When Where And Why of Ultra-Low-Sulfur-Diesel in Mexico (Or at least why it's taking so long for Mexican refineries to start producing "UBA" diesel fuel). For a number of years I worked at a major oil refinery in the USA, and by coincidence worked in a "Sulfur Plant" where sulfur was extracted from fuels and lube oils. Therefore I think that I can offer a guess as to why Mexico is taking so long…
Sulfur extraction plants are not especially difficult to create but they do create a problem---what do you do with the sulfur –after- it has been extracted? Sulfur has to be kept at several hundred degrees F. in order to maintain it in an easily pump-able and transportable form. One of the prime uses of molten sulfur is to manufacture H2SO4 or Sulfuric Acid. This acid is used in dozens of various manufacturing processes. But if the market for sulfur is less than required, then a major step will be required to process the sulfur into acid, and then a secondary need for manufacturing process to utilize the sulfuric acid will have to exist. It would be prohibitively expensive to keep the material heated beyond what a heavily insulated tanker truck would provide.
Maybe someone can come up with a clever answer to this problem. I hope so because Mexico is purchasing its entire UBA diesel inventory from a US refiner to provide acceptable diesel fuel in the Mexican states bordering the US. If the fuel could not be certified as to being Ultra Low Sulfur then Mexican trucks could not legally enter the USA. We need less reasons for oil refiners to hold the trucking industry hostage price-wise because of a claimed shortage of acceptable fuel.
ED NOTE: If we had a brand-new diesel rig and wanted to travel in Mexico, we would tend to err on the conservative side for the moment. Readers wanting to get the latest information might want to contact David at mexbungalows@gmail.com