The diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) market took center stage March 30 as three experts discussed the state of the industry at the Green Markets Diesel Exhaust Fluid Market: Opportunities and Challenges Ahead webinar. The event allowed registrants to listen via telephone or computer as the speakers presented up-to-date DEF information, augmented with numerous slides and graphs, and then answered questions at the event’s conclusion.
Speakers included Chad Dombroski, director of Yara North America Inc.’s Air1 division; Dave Michael, general manager of Mansfield Oil’s DeliveryONE national distribution system; and Tim Cheyne, director of emissions control at Integer Research. An interactive poll at the start of the event confirmed that 42% of listeners were either producers or marketers of DEF.
Dombroski said DEF demand in the U.S. will increase thirty-fold by 2015, with market demand reaching 1.2 billion gallons by 2020. He said DEF is a very competitive market, with more than 20 brands currently available.
Dombroski said the market faces a number of challenges, however, including the risk of contamination that hampers selective catalytic reduction (SCR) performance; effective distribution in North America; and infrastructure investments, which will require hundreds of millions of dollars for production and packaging plants, as well as distribution assets such as railcars, stainless steel trailers, and bulk storage tanks.
Michael discussed Mansfield Oil’s distribution system for DEF through their 170-plus warehouse stocking locations, which currently operate in 49 states in the U.S. He said a closed-loop delivery system is standard practice for Air1 and DeliveryONE, and is critical in maintaining purity throughout the DEF supply chain. Michael said experience with DEF distribution in Europe over the past 5 five years shows most contamination occurs in the field due to improperly sealed dispensing systems.
Michael also detailed the logistical obstacles to the DEF market in North America, including the need for stainless steel trailers; the cost of freight movement; maintaining quality control in transit; dedicated carrier capacity; and the lack of standardization in coupling componentry.
Cheyne compared European demand for DEF with expectations for the N American market. He said totes and drums are expected to be the most important delivery format for DEF in N. America at first, with truck stops and larger mini bulk/bulk dispensers growing in importance; the technology will likely see faster adaptation in agricultural markets for non-road mobile machinery.
He also detailed projected DEF demand in China and Brazil, noting that 1.5 million mt of urea will be used in the China DEF market by 2017.
Cheyne said DEF consumption worldwide will reach 10 million tons by 2020 according to low-side scenarios, while high-side projections show consumption potentially reaching nearly 25 million tons by 2020.
A CD audio recording of the webinar is available for $199. To order, visit http://greenmarkets.pf.com/DEFwebinar/#order. Recordings of other Green Markets audio conferences are available at “Related Products”, http://greenmarkets.pf.com.