Pit & Quarry, February 2017
EXCAVATING DEALING WITH DEF Its important for heavy equipment owners to know the best practices for handling and storing larger quantities of Diesel Exhaust Fluid DEF BY LUKE VAN WYK 18 PIT QUARRY February 2017 pitandquarry com PHOTOS COURTESY OF THUNDER CREEK EQUIPMENT AND CASE iesel exhaust f luid DEF is not new to the construction industry The first heavy construction equipment with DEF was introduced almost five years ago and on road trucks with selective catalytic reduction SCR have been on the road for some time now What is new is the quantity of DEF now in demand and the influx of equipment hitting the market that requires it At Integer Emissions Summit and DEF Forum USA 2016 held in Chicago current projections put North American DEF consumption at more than 1 billion gallons by 2019 and almost 17 billion gallons by 2026 By way of comparison its estimated well consume 617 million gallons in 2016 Much of this growth is being driven by the heavy equipment industry Manufacturers of high horsepower diesel engines specifically those 75 hp and greater are using SCR systems to meet emissions regulations SCR is an aftertreatment technology that sprays DEF into the engine exhaust via a dosing mechanism This produces a chemical reaction with nitrogen oxide NOx converting it to water and nitrogen completely inert before releasing it through the equipments exhaust pipe In this article well review what heavy equipment owners need to know about purchasing handling and storing DEF and why its critical to the long term health and performance of their equipment WHERE AND HOW TO PURCHASE Determining which DEF vendor to work with is as simple as checking labels and making sure youve got the right type of container to put it in DEF is commonly sold in jugs 55 gallon drums 275 or 330 gallon IBC totes and in bulk Equipment owners should always make sure the fluid they are purchasing meets the ISO standard ISO 22241 Secondly they should use a container made specifically for DEF constructed with materials approved in the ISO standard and sterilized and sealed properly While the ISO standard allows for open systems for storing DEF a number of OEMs and industry experts suggest that a closed fluid path solution is the most practical and effective The challenge with open systems is the container must be sterilized between each use which is not practical in construction environments A closed system where the DEF is never exposed to the elements until the very moment its pumped into the machine D
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