Jason Lower, executive vice president at DEF supplier Victory Blue, talked about developing the optimum DEF distribution model. He noted that both liquid and dry product (prills for later water blending) can be successful models and that urea quality control is good domestically versus imports. Increased regulatory oversight would be useful to assure quality control across the board.
Logistical challenges as he discussed them centered mainly on truck transport. They include accessing efficient and cost-effective freight service providers, the anticipated future increase in freight volumes in all sectors, driver shortages and growing highway congestion.
Developing Logistics to Meet Evolving DEF Distribution
The focus on logistics continued with a panel discussion featuring: Geoff Bohlender, executive director PPC DEF solutions & marketing, PPC Lubricants; Alan Smith, DEF business director, Brenntag North America, Inc.; Eric Johnson, market manager – ammonia, nitrogens, & potash, CSX Transportation; Jason Lower, executive vice president, Victory Blue; and Matt Coe, contract manufacturing & quality control manager, DEF, Mansfield Oil Company.
Transporting DEF can be accomplished with finished DEF that adds cost because of the full water content; transporting dry prills that are blended with high quality water after transport; or through a 50% concentrate. Concentrate is easier to blend than the prills, but still has some extra transport costs due to the water content. It was discussed whether a 70% concentration would be workable, reducing water content but increasing some of the handling challenges. Feedback from the audience suggested that might be too challenging, particularly as related to colder climates.
Low-volume/low-density customer areas were seen to represent a primary distribution problem, with potential solutions involving such approaches as using multiple totes manifolded together or larger bulk solution to reduce the frequency of refills and increase the volumes when a refill occurs. Telemetry solutions to facilitate customer tank autofill are also beginning to emerge.
James Burwell
Filling out the Wednesday DEF Forum lineup was a presentation by James Burwell, Gilbarco Veeder-Root’s global product manager, dispensers, who provide a look at the company’s solutions at the retail end of the spectrum. In addition to showcasing the product lineup overview, he asked attendees for feedback as to how Gilbarco could improve its products to meet end-user requirements. He also asked DEF suppliers to explore ways to lower the freeze point, which would make dispensing a less complicated issue in colder climates.
Nick Tamborra
The Thursday forum got off to a belated start due to a missing speaker. However, that allowed an opportunity to sit in on the concurrent presentation: “Advanced Powertrain Solutions in Light Duty Applications” by Nick Tamborra, emissions regulatory senior manager, engineering and environmental office, Volkswagen Group.
Volkswagen’s recent scandal, where it manipulated diesel engine management technology to cheat on emission tests, was the elephant in the room. To Tamborra’s credit he showed up, took the stage and followed through with the core presentation discussing low emission/high mileage powertrain solutions in general and Volkswagen’s anticipated future solutions. The presentation seemed to provide a de-emphasis on diesel technology, but he noted he was unable to elaborate on the company’s diesel focus moving forward. He also declined several similarly Volkswagen-specific questions.
