Improvements the Twinsburg City School District bus fleet experienced using HPCD, high performance clean diesel, was enough for the district’s transportation department to graciously host a lunch program by Clean Fuels for Schools that introduced the green technology to some of its peers.
Representatives from Bedford Heights, Shaker Heights, Streetsboro and East Cleveland were on hand to hear of the 14 percent MPG improvement Twinsburg has enjoyed since becoming a Clean Fuels for Schools participant. The district employs HPCD as tomorrow’s fuel that cuts carbon emissions, improves performance and slices maintenance costs.
One of the more revealing portions of the program came when Joshua Koch, president of Clean Fuels for Schools, displayed several jars of bus fuel taken from various school district storage tanks, as well as one from the City of Marion, which also uses HPCD for its diesel fleet vehicles. All the jars save one were cloudy, showing varying degrees of sludge that was pulled from the tanks.
Storage tanks are notorious for accumulating sludge without proper or regular cleaning. The longer a tank goes without cleaning, the sludge continues to grow and becomes caked onto the storage facility’s floor and walls. So as new fuel is deposited, it immediately encounters sludge that eventually finds its way into buses as the vehicles fill up.
Koch told the audience that on average 300 to 500 pounds of sludge are removed when their tanks are scrubbed clean as part of the Clean Fuels for Schools program. The processes and fuel properties of HPCD.
The sole jar of fuel without sludge belonged to Marion, which has been using HPCD for four years. The sample, taken earlier this month, was the same clear color as it was when high performance clean diesel was introduced to its storage tank.
Since then, Marion has not had to clean its tank.
“We’ve had some pretty successful results”, said Eric Brunton, the school district’s transportation supervisor.
Like Marion, Twinsburg won’t be cleaning its storage tank anytime soon because Burton said it’s as pristine as it was following a cleaning by Clean Fuels for Schools.
