New generation engines - Part I

Published in Western Canada Highway News:
Engine manufacturers had to green up in 2007 as new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emission standards came into effect. They rose to the challenge with innovative solutions in exhaust gas circulation and particulate filtering.
In December 2000, the EPA declared new emission standards for 2007 and later heavy-duty highway engines. The new limit for particulate matter (PM) emissions was set at 0.01 grams per brake horsepower per hour, one-tenth the standard that was in force in 1998 (which was about one-sixth the standard enforced in the late 1980s). Emission standards for nitrogen oxides (NOx) and non-methane hydrocarbons were similarly tightened. The PM standards were to take immediate effect in 2007 while the NOx and NMHC standards were to be phased in over three years.
The health effects of exposure to high levels of particulate matter can include decreased lung function and chronic bronchitis. Nitrogen oxides – compounds of nitrogen and oxygen, in varying complexity – are of concern due to their link to respiratory problems, acid rain, global warming and other troublesome issues. The EPA’s website says hydrocarbon emissions, resulting mainly from incomplete combustion and the evaporation of fuel, are “a serious air pollutant in cities across the United States.”
Cummins Inc. responded with confidence that it could comply with the new benchmarks and yet still deliver the quality its customers had come to expect. The company was “on schedule to deliver as promised, just as we did in 2002 (when new standards also came into effect),” Cummins vice-president Ed Pence said at the 2006 Diesel Techology Conference in Washington, D.C. “Given the breadth of our engine design capabilities, we consider emissions technology a competitive advantage for Cummins and we welcome the new EPA regulations."