us efforts to come up with new ways to test and produce ultra clean fuels and pollution control devices for road vehicles has received a boost in the form of additional funds. The department of energy is to spend us $75 million to make sure new fuel processing technologies perform as expected. The technologies, which are still at the design stage, are being developed to meet new standards for sulphur in petrol.

The standards, announced in December last year and expected to be in place by the end of 2000, require us petrol suppliers to reduce the level of sulphur in petrol from 300 parts per million (ppm) to 30 ppm by 2005. High levels of sulphur in petrol have been linked to increased car pollution because sulphur reduces the effectiveness of catalytic converters.

The initiative also covers low-sulphur diesel, which will require new fuel processing technologies and clean-burning additives to enhance vehicle performance, especially when used with new emission control technologies.