AdBlue, Protecting The Environment With New Fuel Technologies |
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| Topics: AdBlue
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Robin Futcher
2 April 2008
As of the 1st Jan 2005, new vehicles sold in Europe have needed to comply with the Euro 4 Emissions standard, this stage of the Euro's standard requires harmful emissions to be halved from the previous Euro 3 requirement.
A drastic reduction needs to be made in the NOx (nitrous oxides) emissions for all heavy goods vehicles.
Euro 5 is nearly upon us and is scheduled for introduction in October 2009. As to be expected the limits outlined in this new standard are even more stringent than ever.
In order to meet the environmental requirements of the Euro 4 and Euro 5 standards on polluting HGV emissions, the vast majority of manufacturers have chosen SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) technology to reduce their nitrogen oxide emissions. This involves incorporating the urea into an aqueous solution called AdBlue. The alternative is EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) but this technology has its limits and at present will not be able to meet the demands of Euro 6 due in 2012
There are a number of advantages with SCR technology as around 85% of the nitrous oxide is converted into water vapour and nitrogen. (the air we all breath is approximately 74% nitrogen). In addition to this fuel savings of up to 6% have been boasted by some of the leading vehicle manufacturers. This has encouraged many of the leading manufacturers to concentrate their efforts on developing SCR vehicles in their range. These arguments carry some considerable weight for SCR, especially now that fuel prices are at a record high.
Concern has been identified at the outset though as AdBlue is highly susceptible to contamination unless handled correctly, which has led to some dispute surrounding the creation of new ISO standards, who should be involved and how should they be implemented.
At present the AdBlue solution is produced in Europe and shipped to the UK, although there are plans to create production plants in the UK none are available to date.
With this import requirement and considering the sensitive handling aspects of the solution, sceptics fear that this technology may never really settle into the UK market.
However unless an alternative cleaner fuel solution is made available before October next year all modern fleet operators will have to adopt this new technology sooner or later.
The transport industry feels the need for new handling standards to be introduced as soon as possible to guide unfamiliar users through what is otherwise a very uncertain change in to the way large vehicles are refuelled.