In the face of growing demand for alternatives to petroleum-based fueling options for heavy-duty engines, Cummins Inc., is reaffirming its commitment to make its products more “biodiesel ready.”
“Biodiesel has significant potential to reduce fossil fuel consumption while at the same time lowering greenhouse gas emissions and providing support to the U.S. agriculture industry,” said Christine Vujovich, vp-marketing and environmental policy for Cummins. “Real challenges remain in developing a plentiful and consistent supply of biodiesel fuel, but we are committed to supporting efforts to help unlock biodiesel’s considerable promise.”
Vujovich said Cummins already approves use of B5 biodiesel – a 5% biodiesel; 95% petroleum diesel fuel mix – for use in its full line of on- and off-highway engines. The company is also working with DaimlerChrysler to support a development program to approve the use of B20 in select Dodge Ram trucks for the 2007 model year.
Initially, DaimlerChrysler plans to approve B20 fuel for use in certain Cummins-powered Ram trucks sold to military, government and commercial fleet customers, said Vujovich.
“While considerable research remains to be done to establish consistent national standards for production of biodiesel fuels, B5 fuel generally is considered effective in on-highway engine applications where pure petroleum diesel fuel currently is used,” she said. “Interest in renewable fuel sources has increased significantly in the past decade and they have become an important component of broader ‘clean diesel’ efforts supported by us and other companies and organizations in the diesel engine industry.”
