ESTA has published new technical guidance to help members minimise problems with Diesel Exhaust Fluid, also known as AdBlue, the liquid injected into the exhaust system to reduce Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emissions.
Concern has been growing about the effect of DEF /AdBlue additives for many months, with some crane rental companies calculating that one third of all on-road breakdowns were DEF/AdBlue related.
At the end of last year, ESTA asked members to report any issues and received replies from ten different countries, including problems with mobile and crawler cranes, trucks and SPMTs.
The commonest incident was a public road breakdown with almost half of the respondents saying that safety had been compromised as a result. A small number reported dangerous interruptions to wind turbine and port load-out work.
Now ESTA’s European Regulations Working Group – which includes members from the crane manufacturers and the European Materials Handling Federation (FEM) – has produced a new Technical Bulletin to help members reduce the risks.
DEF/AdBlue contains 32.5% of urea and 67.5% deionized water. It has a limited shelf life which is reduced by the effects of direct sunlight and temperature.
The Technical Bulletin includes a list of eleven recommendations – for example, on proper storage, not leaving the engine running idle for a long time and only using DEF/AdBlue from sealed containers and from a trusted source.
The full Technical Bulletin is in the members-only Knowledge Base section of the ESTA website and is available in English, Dutch and German. French, Spanish and Italian versions will be available soon.