JimBinMI - The whole "sulphur in fuel" thing is a tempest in a teapot, a non-issue. When the low-sulphur fuel was first mandated, a number of fuel injection pump designs were immediately adversely affected - leaks developed around shaft seals. Most of the problem was incorrectly attributed to the fact that the sulphur was gone. Actually, most of the problem was due to the method of removing the sulphur reducing the lubricity of the fuel and lowering the volatiles content to the point that seals that had absorbed them and expanded now lost them, contracted and started leaking. Most of the leaks would never have occurred if the pumps had never been exposed to high-sulphur fuel to begin with. Although, as I said, the sulphur-removal process itself was initially a factor in reducing the lubricity of the fuel. Sulphur is itself a lubricant of sorts but its effect was always minimal, so its removal was less a factor than the others I've mentioned. The sulphur removal processes now in use do not cause this reduction in lubricity so that problem has been done away with. The volatiles issue has also been compensated for by adding fuel supplements, as has the minimal lubricity value of the removed sulphur itself.
What folks don't often realize is that sulphur is corrosive, so there are benefits to removing it, not only from the publicized environmental benefits, but from an engine length-of-service standpoint. The corrosive nature of sulphur didn't cause major problems in diesels because of diesel fuel's naturally anit-corrosive properties, but low-sulphur gasoline is one of the factors contributing to the longer lifespan of today's gas engines, so it's got to help our beloved diesels, too. (Check the official standing on low-sulphur fuel of any major engine producer, and you'll see what I mean.)
In addition to all of this, there's the environmental issues. Anything we can do to assist the recovery of the environment in the long run is just what we ought to do and any other hurdles that need to be overcome just need to be overcome, period. And it certainly appears that all the negative impacts of low-sulphur fuel have been eliminated.
The real issues that should affect our fuel purchasing nowadays are lack of contamination (for obvious reasons), freshness (for obvious reasons), high turnover (for obvious reasons), low-sulphur (for the reasons mentioned), and cost (how much do you spend on diesel fuel?), in that order. In my opinion, of course. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Mark
