Conoco Inc. has taken several steps designed to help improve air quality in Colorado.
The company introduced a reformulated, unleaded gasoline in the Denver area and plans to stop producing leaded regular gasoline by Mar. 31 at its 46,000 b/sd Commerce City refinery in Denver.
Conoco will continue using natural gas as a refinery process fuel during the November-March oxygen mandate season, a step the company started in 1988. The refinery uses fuel oil or liquid process fuels the rest of the year.
Conoco is offering a lower sulfur diesel fuel than is presently available at several Denver locations, converting 15 of the company's 45 cars and light trucks in the Denver area to run on propane, and funding an exhaust emission study. The reformulated product, Conoco Regular RXL, contains Du Pont Valve Master detergent and lead substitute designed to protect engines and reduce emissions from older vehicles without catalytic converters.
The new fuel's formula reduces aromatics and will be seasonally adjusted to increase oxygen content 25% during the winter and cut Reid vapor pressure to 8.5 psi during summer, 11% below mandated levels.
Conoco is making its diesel fuel containing 0.12% sulfur, which it has sold to commercial customers for about 2 years, available at the retail level because of increased production capacity. The product, Super Diesel 11, has a 75% lower sulfur content than diesel presently available to the public, a higher cetane rating, and a detergent additive package.
Conoco and the state health department will use the auto emission test program to better identify specific environmental benefits derived by new generation reformulated fuels.
The program will evaluate three gasolines with different aromatic and oxygen content, including Regular RXL, said Kent Bowden, vice-president of Conoco refining and marketing.
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