Global Emissions Standards

Over the last ten years all manufacturers of diesel engines (for both “on” and “off” highway usage) retailed in the countries of the European Union, and the United States of American have been subject to increasingly stringent exhaust emissions standards. These standards control the major pollutants resulting from the operation of the diesel engine, and include HC (Hydro Carbons), PM (Particulate Matter) and NOx (Nitrogen Oxides). These pollutants are the natural by-products from operation of the diesel engine, and although far less a polluter than the SI (Spark Ignition) engine, diesel engine emissions can be considered as contributors to both climate change, and damaging to human health.

These standards for the control of emissions are called Tier compliance and commenced in 1999, however individual countries were allowed to implement these global standards individually according to local requirements (It’s important to remember that several factors contribute to an engines emissions, of which the quality of the fuel being injected into the engine is possibly the largest local variance).

Currently we see the levels of Tier 3a in the EU and Tier 3 in the US which have been effective in reducing significantly the levels of PM and HC, leading to significant reductions in global pollution. These improvements have been initially made through advances in fuel injection technology to control the combustion process within the engine.

The next round of emissions legislation differs in their description between the EU and US and is called Tier 3b for the EU and Tier 4 for the US. Although different in labeling they both have the same objective, an overall reduction in NOx (Nitrogen Oxides) emissions. Nitrogen is contained in diesel fuel and combines with free oxygen during the combustion process to form Nitrogen Oxide molecules.

These nitrogen oxides are contributors to acid rain, urban smog and can affect human health when living in metropolitan areas.

AGCO’s answer to meeting these future emissions standards will be met by adopting a technology called SCR or “Selective Catalytic Reduction”. SCR is a technology already widely used by the on-highway diesel engine industry, and extremely efficient in reducing not only NOx, but also PM (soot) emissions. The other major benefit from this technology is a significant increase in fuel efficiency leading to reduced fuel consumption.

SCR technology provides greatly reduced exhaust emissions and meets all future tier compliance standards out to the year 2014 for both the EU and USA. The overall benefits from reducing exhaust emissions include a reduction in acid rain, urban smog and greenhouse gases. In addition to this beneficial reduction in exhaust emissions we see a significant reduction in fuel consumption over existing engine technologies.