A couple of things to put into perspective regarding ECOS and the emulsified fuels industry.
1) There are a number of other companies/countries that have diesel fuel emulsion technology, including the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Germans and Norwegians. The Chinese have a technology that they developed and are using in China already.
2) Elf had a product back in the 1990's prior to their merger with Total. It was a blend of diesel water and proprietary compounds. I think it was called Aquazole. They continued to develop into the mid-2000's but then mothballed it.
3) Back in 2001, Lubrizol had a product PuriNOx that it was supplying to BP for use in the London city bus fleet. This was a water diesel fuel emulsion technology.
4) The European market has always been ahead of the use market due to the prevalence of diesel engine technology in trucks, buses, etc. Elf and Lubrizol had their products tied back into OEM warranties with CAT, Man, Scania, Mack, etc.
5) Yara (a Norwegian company) has been a leader in European NOx abatement in buses and trucks in Europe for years. They use a urea after treatment approach which is gaining wide acceptance in Europe and Canada (and is growing quickly in the US). They are now applying their technology to shipping which is focused at SOx abatement. It doesn't hurt that the Norwegians are also big ship builders.
6) Urea after treatment has been the industry accepted approach by the truck and heavy engine guys. Look at what happened to Navistar in 2012 when it tried to go a different way. They tried to develop their own engine with a different NOX emission approach. It failed. They are now using Cummins engines with urea after treatment.
7) Urea after treatment has already been used for years in power plants and other NOx emitting industries.
7) I think if ECOS is going to get a footing here it needs to find a way to team up with someone big who has market access (engine manufacturer, companies with a presence in NOx/SOx abatement, etc.
MS if you are listening I would try and call Yves Bonte at Yara A/S in Norway. He is the guy running their industrial business (which includes their environmental technology business). They actually might find ECOS technology interesting and are trying to grow in the environmental technology field. Happy to provide an introduction for you.
AI
