INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — It’s difficult to argue against the benefits of cleaner-burning fuel, but when government regulations mandate change in a basic agricultural commodity like diesel, there are unseen ripple effects that are costly to farmers, refiners and equipment manufacturers.

“The bottom line is that eventually, the consumer sees the impact in higher fuel prices,” said Matt Smorch, vice president of planning for CountryMark Cooperative in Indianapolis.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), diesel engines emit 7.3 million tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides and 333,000 tons of soot a year. The EPA has stated diesel pollution is linked to premature death, asthma attacks and millions of lost work days.

In an effort to reduce those emissions in order to mitigate the negative impact of diesel fuel, the EPA recently awarded $50 million in grants for clean diesel projects to replace, retrofit or repower 8,000 older school buses, trucks, locomotives, vessels and other diesel-powered machines, including farm equipment.

Since 2008, the EPA has awarded $470 million to more than 350 projects. Much of that research is centered on making sure the cleaner burning diesel doesn’t clog the fuel injectors inside engines, said Barbara Goodrich, manager of engine fluids for John Deere Power Systems in Moline, Ill.

“There have been few changes needed to accommodate ultra low-sulfur diesel,” said Goodrich. “Some of them are the same changes needed to accommodate biodiesel and its blends.”

She said that with the new diesel blends coming online, it’s important for engine manufacturers to remove copper, zinc, tin, bronze, brass and lead from the engine’s fuel system: “Zinc in particular is known to catalyze injector deposits.”

For farmers, she said the use of the new diesel blends could mean more frequent fuel filter changes. In addition, she said farmers should be aware the new ultra low-sulfur diesel has caused sticky deposits in some diesel engines (in particular, on-road and Tier 3 non-road high pressure common rail engines). The deposits can cause rough running, misfire, smoking and poor starting.

“This problem does not show up everywhere,” said Goodrich. “It is most prevalent in the upper Midwest, while California has very few issues. There are some new detergent/dispersant diesel fuel additives available that have been shown to clean up and prevent these deposits.”

The reason deposits in new engines are such a concern is because the holes in the injectors are smaller and more susceptible to clogging. If the holes are even partially blocked, engine performance is reduced. Smorch said operators may not even realize a deposit buildup is happening, but with each hour of operation deposits slowly grow. Over the course of a season or two, engines can suffer very real performance losses, he added.

Goodrich said it isn’t necessary to retrofit existing engines that use ultra low-sulfur diesel – although one exception are fuel tanks galvanized on the inside. She said since zinc can catalyze into deposits, farmers should make sure their tanks are compatible with the new fuel. In addition, she said farmers should check to make sure there is no zinc in their on-site fuel lines and storage tanks.

Smorch said CountryMark is doing all it can to make sure any deposit problems from the new diesel blend are minimized through the use of detergents and additives. “Engine manufacturers are changing their designs to get better mileage,” said Smorch. “We’re working with original equipment manufacturers to help them in their designs. Because the injectors are getting smaller in order to more efficiently burn the fuel, making sure we have a quality fuel to use in those engines is the big thing for us. Our upgraded fuels include new detergents to eliminate deposits that could build up on the injectors.”

But, he added, even though Country-Mark serves “a very large amount of agricultural customers in Indiana, we don’t control the total supply chain.” He explained storage is an important issue, which is why the company is working to educate farmers about water in tanks and on the importance of good maintenance of their on-farm storage.

CountryMark is Indiana’s only American-owned oil exploration, production and refining company. Since 1940 it has operated a refinery in Mount Vernon on the Ohio River. It fuels terminals in Mount Vernon, Switz City, Jolietville and Peru, Ind., along with Henderson, Ky.

CountryMark diesel is distributed to farms, fleets and families through a network of cooperatives which own and operate 90 CountryMark fuel stations and more than 200 fuel delivery routes in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan. Crude oil for the refinery is pumped from the 53,000-square-mile Illinois Basin through a 500-mile pipeline system. Each day the refinery processes 26,800 barrels of crude oil, which translates into more than 280 million gallons of gasoline, diesel, ethanol and biodiesel a year.