The Log
16 May 2013: The IMO adopts a proposal to delay Tier III NOx emission standards for ships [more ...]
15 May 2013: Added summary of the proposed US Tier 3 emission standards for light-duty vehicles.
13 May 2013: A new Technology Guide paper on SCR technology discusses Urea Dosing and Injection Systems [announcement | paper].
10 May 2013: The 2013 DEER conference has been canceled “due to unforseen events”. The next DEER conference is to be held in the Fall 2014.
9 May 2013: The US EPA issues a request for proposals for DERA clean diesel projects. The 2013 funding has been reduced to $9 million.
Canada adopts new emission requirements for ships, aligning Canadian requirements with IMO MARPOL Annex VI and with the United States [more ...]
1 May 2013: The US EPA released the “Second Report to Congress: Highlights of the Diesel Emissions Reduction Program”. The Report contains results from the 2008, 2009/2010, and Recovery Act DERA grants—the peak period of the DERA clean diesel program, now being scaled down by the US government.
26 April 2013: Summary of technical sessions from the SAE Congress held on April 16-18 in Detroit [more ...]
17 April 2013: Current biofuels pose significant sustainability problems—according to a new report by the British think tank Chatham House—with biodiesel from vegetable oils found to be worse for the climate than fossil diesel [more ...]
Progress towards clean energy has stalled, concludes the IEA in a report titled Tracking Clean Energy Progress. Carbon intensity of the world’s energy sector stood at 2.39 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of oil equivalent (tCO2/toe) in 1990, and had barely moved by 2010, holding at 2.37 tCO2/toe.
16 April 2013: The latest survey of biodiesel blend stock (B100) samples collected from producers and from terminals in 2011 by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that 95% of samples met the ASTM D6751 specifications. This is a major improvement over results from previous years—in the 2007 survey of B100 biodiesel, less than half of the samples met quality specifications.
15 April 2013: New Technology Guide papers discuss supercharger technology for diesel and gasoline engines.
12 April 2013: Updated Technology Guide paper on variable valve actuation (VVA) applications provides more coverage on the use of an over-expanded cycle (Atkinson/Miller) in gasoline and diesel engines.
5 April 2013: ESW America provides emission testing services and emission certification/verification consulting.
27 March 2013: New Technology Guide paper discusses boosting systems in gasoline and diesel engines.
22 March 2013: The US House Energy and Commerce Committee launched a bipartisan review of the Renewable Fuels Standard [more ...]
18 March 2013: Integer Research held a diesel emissions conference in Russia in February. Those who did not attend are invited to complete an online survey. Upon completing the survey, you may download a post-conference report and two conference presentations of your choice.
13 March 2013: The United States cannot achieve energy security through biofuels, concludes a discussion paper by a US Navy analyst [more ...]
8 March 2013: New Technology Guide paper—Turbocharging Challenges—talks about low speed boost and turbocharger lag.
26 February 2013: Updated summaries of Argentinian emission standards for light-duty vehicles and heavy-duty engines.
23 February 2013: Summary of the technical sessions from the Transportation Technologies and Fuels Forum (TTFF), recently hosted by Natural Resources Canada in Ottawa, Ontario [more ...]
22 February 2013: Emisstar—the emission reduction consultancy—on DieselNet.
18 February 2013: California ARB released a white paper which describes intended regulatory concepts for an Alternative Diesel Fuel (ADF) regulation. Biodiesel would be the first ADF to become regulated [more ...]
13 February 2013: Updated Technology Guide papers on variable valve actuation technology.
4 February 2013: Updated page for Emitec—the supplier of metallic catalyst substrates, structured foil substrates, electrically heated and other specialty catalysts, partial flow deep bed filters and NoNOx urea SCR systems.
Diesel Engine & Emissions
The diesel engine is the most efficient power plant among all known types of internal combustion engines. Heavy trucks, urban buses, and industrial equipment are powered almost exclusively by diesel engines all over the world and diesel powered passenger cars are increasingly popular. For the foreseeable future, the world’s transportation needs will continue to rely on the diesel engine and its gasoline counterpart. However, both engine technologies are evolving at an ever increasing pace to meet two major challenges: lower emissions and increased energy efficiency.
Internal combustion engines are significant contributors to air pollution that can be harmful to human health and the environment. In response, clean diesel technologies with near-zero emissions of NOx and PM have been developed and introduced in regions with the most stringent emission standards: North America, Europe and Japan. While new clean diesel engines are gradually replacing the population of older diesel engines in these regions, older engines already in service are being retrofitted with clean diesel technologies to hasten emissions reductions. As this trend spreads to other parts of the world, the environmental focus has shifted to climate changing emissions and energy efficiency. The environmental benefit of low greenhouse gas emissions, traditionally associated with the diesel engine, is no longer sufficient. To meet future greenhouse gas and fuel economy regulations, new technologies are being developed—low temperature combustion, waste heat recovery, powertrain electrification, to name a few—that further increase the efficiency not only of the diesel engine powertrain but the entire vehicle as well. Under low-carbon regulatory policies, the scope for potential improvements is no longer limited to engines and vehicles, but also includes life cycle effects of fuel production and vehicle manufacture.
DieselNet, the only information service exclusively devoted to diesel engines and emissions, is an internet forum for the exchange of technical and business information on diesel engines, fuels, emissions and many of the important technologies required by the clean and efficient diesel engines of the future.