Fuel novelties

The much-maligned diesel fuel is being cleaned up. Rhone-Poulenc, the French chemicals and pharmaceuticals group, has developed a technology which it claims reduces carbon emissions from the fuel by 80-90 per cent. The system is being tested on the fleets of the urban transport authority and Trois Suisses, a mail order delivery company.

The technology involves adding a rare earth derivative to the diesel fuel and using a metallic or ceramic filter, burning carbon particles at between 200 degrees C to 400 degrees C, instead of the usual 600C.