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| Economy |
| Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) now threaten America's transportation system. |
| 2022-06-05 |
| [AmericanThinker] Should China occupy Taiwan, it would control a majority of the world's microchip manufacturing production. But China needn't invade Taiwan to bring America to its knees — simply reducing urea and other existing Chinese exports is already wreaking havoc. Agricultural fertilizer prices have nearly doubled in the past year, and shrinking supplies of Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) now threaten America's transportation system. The impact of urea supply shortages on food inflation will be compounded by distribution failures if additional DEF resources are not procured immediately. DEF is an emissions control liquid required by the EPA in diesel engines manufactured after 2010 as an "aftertreatment technology" to reduce vehicle emissions. This additive is required for most modern diesel truck fleets. Without it, many trucks cannot exceed five miles per hour in speed, or even be started. Truckers are now reporting increasing DEF shortages around the nation. EPA mandates for DEF in diesel engines were not matched by increases in DEF production, and China cut back DEF manufacturing last year, leading to the current threat: |
| Posted by:NoMoreBS |
| #21 I’ll post in the O Club, SteveS, unless it fits naturally into an ongoing conversation. He gets back Tuesday, so it’ll be after that, |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2022-06-05 23:45 |
| #20 It would be interesting to hear Mr Wife's thoughts on the matter, tw. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2022-06-05 23:29 |
| #19 I looked it up, and it looks like you are more right than I, SteveS. Mr. Wife trained as a chemical engineer. I’ll get his thoughts when he returns from his current business trip, just for my own satisfaction. Learning! :-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2022-06-05 22:51 |
| #18 ^ Coming soon from Mexican Cartels: Fast & Furious XVI "Urea Coming Soon" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2022-06-05 22:16 |
| #17 Distillation is used to separate liquids. Urea is a solid. I suspect it is easier to synthesize it from ammonia or such than to concentrate a 2% solution. Best quick solution is a hardware/software hack to spoof the sensor system. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2022-06-05 20:10 |
| #16 #11 - M. Murcek Need something distilled? Well, Hell's Bells, even Amazon sells a 404SS 13Gal. still system. Want quality and quantity? Ask an Old-School Southerner. Or checkout "www.moonshinestill.com" |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2022-06-05 19:04 |
| #15 Pretty sure an emergency software hack will stop the software-shutdown to comply with EPA smog regs. The engine's don't shut down by necessity. It's EPA-imposed software strangling. Quit delivering food to VA, DC, MA, and lets see how fast that changes |
| Posted by: Frank G 2022-06-05 18:27 |
| #14 I'd be surprised if the commies did NOT stick it to us now that we've allowed ourselves to become dependent on them. It's a good bet it was part of their plan all along. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-06-05 16:21 |
| #13 "DEF is an emissions control liquid required by the EPA in diesel engines manufactured after 2010 " Whatever did we do before 2010? I guess we all died or something. |
| Posted by: Tom 2022-06-05 15:43 |
| #12 Human urine is apparently about 2% urea. So yes — both purification and distillation are necessary. It sounds fairly straightforward for a plain vanilla chemical factory to set up, and is a feedstock for fertilizer as well. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2022-06-05 15:04 |
| #11 But distillation is such a useful process... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-06-05 12:25 |
| #10 DEF is roughly 30% urea and 70% distilled water. While isolating urea was an early triumph for organic chemistry, making your own DEF is a bit trickier than teaching your cow to pee in the DEF tank. The urea concentration in urine is low and there are a whole bunch of other ingredients you do not want in your engine. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2022-06-05 11:25 |
| #9 DEF is essentially cow urine...so people need to start making their own version of it |
| Posted by: Bill Sforza6960 2022-06-05 10:45 |
| #8 The simplest solution is to shut down the EPA and any obstruction enforcement elements for 4 years. As I understand, the problem is not just administrative - the DEF requirement has been implemented in hardware: Diesel trucks have a sensor that monitors the DEF tank and limits to truck speed to 5 mph when it runs dry. I wonder if clever humans could hack the sensor or its controller, basically hot-wiring it to read FULL all the time. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2022-06-05 10:20 |
| #7 ^ # 1 That is definitely interesting. Thank you. I hope to hear more. Biden was supposed to be on vacation this weekend. He had plans to extensive travel like to Saudi Arabia to beg for oil. Then Pelosi is to go to Europe again shortly for her third trip. Harris is I think hiding. |
| Posted by: Dale 2022-06-05 08:37 |
| #6 The air will be much cleaner after the mass starve offs in blue cities. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-06-05 08:22 |
| #5 There are some stories that Al the blimp Gore is the guy who sold this unproven crap to the EPA It’s about one jump from Windex and is almost predatory in price |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2022-06-05 08:16 |
| #4 The simplest solution is to shut down the EPA and any |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-06-05 07:46 |
| #3 The DEF shortage started appearing in January in Australia and South Korea (pre-Ukraine in other words) as a consequence of Chinas reluctance to export urea. The ratios are all over the map depending on engine design but it’s anywhere fro a 50:1 to a 200:1 diesel:DEF mix. Pre shortage the cost was $3+/gallon. Candidly this looks like the long pole in the tent for the developed worlds logistics system. If this takes 15%+ minimum of the existing truck fleet off the road (and tractors out of the field). It’ll wreak chaos. Interestingly, countries that didn’t buy into this environmentally friendly solution will experience less domestic turmoil. |
| Posted by: Slenter Panda4300 2022-06-05 07:30 |
| #2 Interesting, Black Charlie Slairt1430. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2022-06-05 01:14 |
| #1 Don't expect help from Joe Biden. Something may be up with him. His admin just siddenly canceled ALL scheduled overseas trips. |
| Posted by: Black Charlie Slairt1430 2022-06-05 00:57 |