More diesel cars getting close to achieving U.S. EPA tier 2/Bin-5 standards

Diesel Fuel News, Sept 15, 2003

More Diesel Cars Getting Close To Achieving U.S. EPA Tier 2/Bin-5 Standards: Besides the Toyota Avensis "DPNR" diesel car that gets very close to ultra-clean Bin 5 emissions levels in tests at U.S. EPA's Ann Arbor, Mich., test facility (see Diesel Fuel News 6/24/02, p6), both VW and DaimlerChrysler have likewise come close to Bin-5 compliance.

While EPA wouldn't identify a "vehicle B" and "vehicle C" in test data shown here, it's among the world's worst-kept secrets that "vehicle B" is in fact an Audi compact station wagon, while "vehicle C" is a DaimlerChrysler 3-liter diesel. "Vehicle B" (Audi wagon), includes a 2-liter, 4-cylinder engine with NOx and PM traps and an oxidation catalyst. It achieved less than 0.02 grams/mile PM and less than 0.03 grams/mile NOx on FTP75 test cycle, but just over 0.2 g/mile NOx on supplemental FTP, while maintaining ultra-low PM. "Vehicle C" (Daimler vehicle) employed cooled EGR along with NOx/PM traps. After 100,000 km aging, its NOx reduction performance degraded from near-zero NOx to about 0.25 g/mile (on FTP75) and 0.58 g/mile (on SFTP), but "fixed NOx regeneration may have contributed to degradation," EPA's Bill Charmley explained here. Beyond these cars, "within the next year additional testing of [Bin-5] prototypes from several additional manufacturers" is planned, he said. In a separate presentation, FEV diesel researcher Dean Tomazic pointed out that the Audi vehicle tested at EPA's labs used a 0.6-ppm sulfur diesel fuel (virtually zero-sulfur ULSD). For U.S. Dept. of Energy "advanced petroleum based fuels-diesel emissions control" (APBF-DEC) program tests in coming months, this vehicle's NOx/PM trap system (best of two variations) will be aged with 8--and 15-ppm sulfur fuels for 2,050 hours, plus a final 50-hour test with a 30-ppm sulfur fuel to represent "misfueling."