LONDON (Reuters) - German premium carmaker BMW intends to start selling diesel-powered cars in the United States within two years, using a urea-based additive to meet emissions standards, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.
"Urea will take another two years but then diesel is really clean and can be sold in all 50 states," the paper quoted BMW sales and marketing head Michael Ganal as saying at the British International Motor Show.
"The U.S. is more open to diesel than two or three years ago."
Other carmakers, including DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen , already sell diesel cars in the U.S. market, where diesel has never been as popular as in Europe despite its fuel efficiency and durability.
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Here's a brief explanation of the technology:
Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR):
Selective catalytic reduction is a versatile emission reduction technology that can be used on many types of diesel vehicle. It is best suited to larger vehicles, due to the need for a small separate tank of chemical reductant.
An SCR system has the potential to reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions by between 50% and 90%, although this will be dependent on the duty cycle as the system is extremely temperature dependent. Some reduction in emissions of particulate matter is also achieved, even if a particulate trap is not fitted.
SCR uses a reductant (ammonia or urea), which is injected into the exhaust gas to help reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx) over a catalyst. Some systems also use a particulate trap to further reduce emissions. Unlike some other emissions control equipment, fitting SCR should not result in any increase in fuel consumption and by allowing the engine to be tuned for maximum economy can actually decrease fuel consumption.
Ongoing maintenance costs will involve regular replacement of the reductant, either ammonia or urea. Replacement of the ammonia gas cylinder or replenishment of the liquid ammonia/urea tank will only be required around every 9 -10,000 miles for a taxi, but will be much more frequent for a heavy vehicle. As to the choice of using urea or ammonia, it is likely that urea will be more commonly used by manufacturers as it has much lower health risks.
Clean Diesel Technologies' patented ARIS™ 2000 NOx reduction system is a low-cost urea injection system, which reduces NOx to elemental nitrogen and water vapour. At typical exhaust temperatures of 320-500°C NOx reduction is between 70% and 90%.
"Urea will take another two years but then diesel is really clean and can be sold in all 50 states," the paper quoted BMW sales and marketing head Michael Ganal as saying at the British International Motor Show.
"The U.S. is more open to diesel than two or three years ago."
Other carmakers, including DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen , already sell diesel cars in the U.S. market, where diesel has never been as popular as in Europe despite its fuel efficiency and durability.
==============================================
Here's a brief explanation of the technology:
Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR):
Selective catalytic reduction is a versatile emission reduction technology that can be used on many types of diesel vehicle. It is best suited to larger vehicles, due to the need for a small separate tank of chemical reductant.
An SCR system has the potential to reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions by between 50% and 90%, although this will be dependent on the duty cycle as the system is extremely temperature dependent. Some reduction in emissions of particulate matter is also achieved, even if a particulate trap is not fitted.
SCR uses a reductant (ammonia or urea), which is injected into the exhaust gas to help reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx) over a catalyst. Some systems also use a particulate trap to further reduce emissions. Unlike some other emissions control equipment, fitting SCR should not result in any increase in fuel consumption and by allowing the engine to be tuned for maximum economy can actually decrease fuel consumption.
Ongoing maintenance costs will involve regular replacement of the reductant, either ammonia or urea. Replacement of the ammonia gas cylinder or replenishment of the liquid ammonia/urea tank will only be required around every 9 -10,000 miles for a taxi, but will be much more frequent for a heavy vehicle. As to the choice of using urea or ammonia, it is likely that urea will be more commonly used by manufacturers as it has much lower health risks.
Clean Diesel Technologies' patented ARIS™ 2000 NOx reduction system is a low-cost urea injection system, which reduces NOx to elemental nitrogen and water vapour. At typical exhaust temperatures of 320-500°C NOx reduction is between 70% and 90%.
