New rules in the US limiting the amount of sulfur produced by diesel fuel will create a new generation of diesel technology, according to an industry expert.

Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum, explained that trucks and buses would be the first areas to benefit from clean diesel. It will take seven trucks built in 2007 to produce the same amount of emissions produced by a truck built before that.

The new rules dictate that at least 80 per cent of diesel fuel refined in the US for vehicles must be ultra-low sulfur diesel, containing a fraction of the sulfur of current diesel.

"Just as taking the lead out of gasoline in the 1970s enabled a new generation of emissions control technologies that made gasoline vehicles over 95 per cent cleaner, so will removing the sulfur from diesel help usher in a new generation of clean diesel technology across all applications," Mr Schaeffer said.

"Clean diesel fuel is critically important because sulfur tends to hamper the effectiveness of diesel exhaust-control devices, like lead once obstructed the catalytic converters on gasoline cars."

By 2009, all Cars, Pickups and SUVs of whatever fuel type will have to conform to the stricter clean air legislation.

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