ArvinMeritor’s Clean Air Solutions Provide Technologies Tailored to Address Commercial Vehicle Emissions Challenges
TROY, Mich., (June 11,
2004) — ArvinMeritor, Inc. (NYSE:
ARM) today unveiled its suite of Clean Air Solutions that will
provide commercial truck and bus original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with a
number of technologies and products to address vehicle emissions
challenges. OEMs will now be able to select the solution that best suits
their individual needs.
ArvinMeritor’s proven competencies of thermal
management and exhaust system design, packaging and durability are a common
thread connecting all of ArvinMeritor’s Clean Air Solutions. Aimed at
heavy truck, light truck and passenger car applications in North America, Europe
and Asia, the technologies under development include effective applications to
meet upcoming near-term diesel exhaust emission regulations, as well as
innovative solutions for the increasingly stringent standards mandated for the
future.
“ArvinMeritor’s core competency is emissions system
design, manufacturing and integration,” said Tom Gosnell, president of
ArvinMeritor’s Commercial Vehicle Systems business group. “We are
particularly proud to provide highly engineered technology and innovation in a
broad product portfolio. Our Clean Air Solutions offer a suite of options
that can be tailored to specific applications, whether they’re in the United
States or Europe, on long-haul or urban delivery trucks, or for school buses or
garbage trucks.”
To comply with upcoming U.S. and European
regulations, it is expected that all manufacturers will need to implement a
combination of exhaust after-treatment systems with engine design and control
changes.
U.S. standards for the commercial vehicle industry
call for the reduction of particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx)
emissions from diesel-powered vehicles by 90 percent or more from current
levels, in stages between 2007 and 2010. Similarly stricter European
standards are being mandated in 2005 and 2008.
Included within ArvinMeritor’s suite of Clean Air
Solutions are applications, technologies and products to address both PM, NOx
and unburned hydrocarbon (HC) issues.
Particulate Matter Problem, ArvinMeritor
Solutions
Particulate matter is formed by the incomplete combustion
of fuel in diesel engines, and has been identified as a significant
environmental concern. To control PM, both the commercial vehicle and
light vehicle industries are pursuing the installation of PM filters in the
exhaust system of the vehicle. The filter “traps” the PM from the exhaust
stream and prevents it from reaching the atmosphere. Over time, the PM
filter “fills up” with PM. If not cleaned or “regenerated,” the vehicle’s
performance and fuel economy is adversely affected and the filter will require
replacement.
This regeneration process can be achieved passively
(with no specific control intervention) or actively (with a computer-controlled
strategy). Light vehicles tend to have passive PM traps, and commercial
vehicles will tend to have active PM traps. Regen-eration is achieved by
“burning off” the trapped PM. Current systems in operation require exhaust
gas temperatures of more than 600o C at the filter inlet to burn off PM.
ArvinMeritor currently offers two solutions within
its Clean Air Solutions product portfolio to reduce PM from the exhaust stream
and to meet the needs of specific applications:
Passive Regeneration
Passive
regeneration is a proven method for regenerating light vehicle and passenger car
PM traps in Europe, where operating characteristics are different. For
example, European light vehicles are generally driven at higher speeds and with
higher loads than U.S. commercial vehicles.
ArvinMeritor’s Air and Emissions Technologies
operation in Augsburg, Germany, is both a highly experienced technology and
market leader in emissions management. It has provided light vehicle
emissions solutions in Europe since 1953, and is developing future technologies
for light vehicles and passenger cars.
Active Regeneration
Reliable
regeneration of passive PM filters in commercial vehicles can be a
problem. The exhaust temperature of commercial diesel engines is not
generally sufficient to initiate regeneration in the filter. Where diesels
are running at higher loads, passive regeneration may be possible, but
generally, commercial vehicles’ PM filters will need to be actively controlled,
particularly when even stricter standards are implemented in 2010.
The company’s Thermal Regenerator provides PM
filter operation under all driving conditions and duty cycles. Because
regeneration is automatically initiated and electronically controlled, vehicle
operating effectiveness and peak engine performance are maintained.
In many cases, this is especially true with
vehicles that are being operated in urban areas in stop-and- go mode, such as
buses and coaches, delivery vans and garbage trucks. This regeneration
will be best be achieved by thermal regeneration through the application of
external heat. In ArvinMeritor’s Thermal Regenerator, an electronic
control unit continuously monitors exhaust gas temperature, exhaust gas
backpressure and other engine operating characteristics, such as engine speed
and load. If regeneration is required, it is initiated
automatically. The diesel fuel is burned with air in a small combustion
chamber to raise gas temperature at the PM Filter to at least 650o C in less
than 60 seconds.
NOx Problem, ArvinMeritor
Solutions
Small amounts of oxides of nitrogen are formed during
combustion, as a result of the combination of nitrogen and oxygen in the
presence of high temperatures and pressures. Oxides of nitrogen are
collectively referred to as "NOx", where "x" represents a changing proportion of
oxygen to nitrogen, and play an important role in the formation of photochemical
smog.
ArvinMeritor, with support from the State of
Indiana 21st Century Research and Development Fund, has been actively developing
NOx trap systems that use a revolutionary new enabling technology called the
Plasma Fuel Reformer. The company has also developed Selective Catalytic
Reduction (SCR) systems to control NOx. Both technologies assist OEMs in
reducing NOx levels emitted by diesel-powered commercial vehicles.
Plasma Fuel Reformer Enabled NOx Trap
In
the NOx trap, active coatings within the trap adsorb NOx and prevent it from
passing into the atmosphere. To maintain its efficiency, however, the trap
must be regenerated regularly by the introduction of hydrocarbons or hydrogen to
the trap’s active reagents. In
conventional NOx traps, diesel fuel is introduced
as the hydrocarbon source, but this approach has considerable
disadvantages. Those disadvantages include the difficulty of successful
regeneration at low temperatures, a significant diesel fuel consumption penalty
and the possibility of unburnt diesel fuel passing through to the atmosphere, a
phenomenon called diesel “slip.”
ArvinMeritor has developed a proprietary technology
named the Plasma Fuel Reformer that enables the significantly more efficient and
effective operation of a NOx trap. (See separate news release,
“Breakthrough ArvinMeritor Technology.”)
With ArvinMeritor’s Plasma Fuel Reformer, a
hydrogen-rich gas is generated onboard and on-demand, using the vehicle’s diesel
fuel as a source, and supplied directly to the NOx trap, as required.
According to laboratory and field tests, the hydrogen-rich gas has proven to be
an outstandingly efficient regenerator of the trap.
Regeneration
occurs (compared to diesel):
- Using, on average, half the diesel fuel (and even
less in some conditions)
- Over a much broader temperature range, especially
in the low-temperature regime
- Preliminary lab tests show the ability to
successfully remove sulfur from the NOx adsorber at temperatures well below
500o C, enabling long life of the catalyst system
The operation is entirely transparent to the
operator, fleet maintenance manager and fleet owner, because the Plasma Fuel
Reformer can supply hydrogen-rich gas to the NOx trap at any time from any
hydrocarbon fuel, including diesel. Unlike SCR systems (see below), there
is no need to continually refill a separate tank or develop a urea distribution
infrastructure.
ArvinMeritor has utilized its industry-leading
engineering and manufacturing expertise to take an innovation pioneered by the
Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) and apply the technology into systems that can be mass-produced. The
company has exclusive rights to the use of the technology for the licensed
applications from MIT.
Selective Catalytic Reduction
System
Selective Catalytic Reduction has been used in the stationary
engine market for many years as an effective NOx reduction solution. In an
SCR system, a reagent (urea) supplied from a separate tank is measured and mixed
into the exhaust stream. It decomposes and forms ammonia that continually
facilitates the catalytic reduction of NOx.
In transportation applications, this approach
presents several challenges, however. For example, the injection of urea
must be measured precisely in proportion to the NOx present in the exhaust at
any given time. As the level of NOx varies with engine speed, load and
exhaust flow rate, its concentration is extremely transient. In addition,
a liquid (urea) other than diesel fuel must be carried onboard and replenished
on a regular basis by the vehicle driver or fleet staff.
“This requires another container on the vehicle, as
well as urea pumping stations and all the relevant supply infrastructure,” said
Gosnell. “In Europe, they’re comfortable with all of those obstacles to
SCR introduction, and it is the chosen solution. It’s effective. It’s
light and compact. And it has the lowest fuel consumption of existing
technologies. ArvinMeritor has SCR technology that’s equal to any in the
world, we have a contract to supply SCR systems to IVECO, as well as to another
major European commercial vehicle manufacturer.”
SCR compared to the hydrogen-enabled NOx
trap
While SCR is proven to work, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has major concerns about SCR’s applicability to the U.S.
market. Therefore, the EPA is likely to require that any engine or truck
using a SCR system the OEM incorporates a lockout system to prevent the
vehicle’s operation if the urea system were inoperative or empty. The EPA
will also require that the SCR has a urea distribution system to meet market
requirements.
“We have a fully developed SCR system, as well as a
longer-term hydrogen-enabled NOx trap under aggressive development, so we have
options to meet our OEM customer needs whichever direction the North American
market goes on the NOx issue,” said Gosnell. “We’re proud of these
products and technologies, as well as of our Thermal Regenerator. Our
comprehensive expertise in exhaust emission solutions applied to commercial
vehicle applications makes us well positioned to become the leading global
supplier of emission control systems.”
Hydrocarbon problem, ArvinMeritor
solution
ArvinMeritor’s Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) is capable
of removing up to 90 percent of hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions.
It is a proven technology that can be installed as a new or retrofit solution,
and it can be packaged within a muffler or as a flow-through design. It is
compatible with current sulfur levels.
ArvinMeritor, Inc. is a premier $8-billion global
supplier of a broad range of integrated systems, modules and components to the
motor vehicle industry. The company serves light vehicle, commercial
truck, trailer and specialty original equipment manufacturers and related
aftermarkets. Headquartered in Troy, Mich., ArvinMeritor employs
approximately 32,000 people at more than 150 manufacturing facilities in 27
countries. ArvinMeritor common stock is traded on the New York Stock
Exchange under the ticker symbol ARM. For more information, visit the
company’s Web site at: http://www.arvinmeritor.com/.
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