EPA announces West Coast Diesel Initiative … SCR for Nissan truck … fuel cell system for jail

Diesel Progress North American Edition, Dec, 2004

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a consortium of federal, state and local agencies and industry have launched the West Coast Diesel Emissions Reductions Collaborative, a $6 million initiative to reduce diesel emissions from trucks, ships, locomotives and other diesel sources along the West Coast. More than 400 interests have been involved in the program, which will find voluntary solutions and provide funding to reduce diesel emissions in California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Interests from British Columbia and Mexico have also joined this effort.

As part of the effort, a number of diesel emission reduction projects were initiated. Most of the total $6 million funding has been allocated for reduction of truck idle emissions by truck stop electrification or installing small auxiliary engines. $1.8 million has been budgeted for providing shore power to ships in the Seattle port to eliminate emissions from "hoteling."

The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District will start a $150,000 diesel emissions reduction demonstration project to investigate diesel retrofit technologies on heavy-duty trucks ill the San Diego-Tijuana region. The collaborative's goal is to ultimately secure $100 million through this public/private partnership to address diesel pollution problems in the west. Some of the most important diesel emission sources in the West Coast which were identified by the EPA are trucks traveling along the 1-5 and 1-99 corridors, ships and trains along the Pacific coast, agriculture equipment in California's Central Valley, and construction equipment in Los Angeles, Fresno, Seattle and Portland.

Nissan Diesel Motor Co. has developed a new low-emissions diesel track that will use a urea SCR system to reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide (N[O.sub.x]) in emissions gas. The truck went on sale in Japan in November. Mitsui Chemicals Inc. will produce the aqueous urea and Mitsui & Co. will supply it to gas stations for trucks nationwide.

FuelCell Energy Inc. announced its first I MW Direct FuelCell (DFC) power plant sale in California to Alameda County for the Santa Rim Jail in Dublin, Calif. This is the first fuel cell project with its North American distribution partner, Chevron Energy, Solutions. FuelCell Energy will provide Alameda County a DFC1500 power plant and related operating and maintenance services. Chevron Energy Solutions will act as overall project manager and integrator, providing design, engineering, construction and installation services to Alameda County. The DFC1500 power plant will augment an existing 1.18 MW solar power system. The new Santo Rita Jail is recognized one of the most technologically innovative jails in the world. The facility holds about 4000 inmates in 18 modern housing units. It is considered a "mega-jail" and ranks as the third largest facility in California and fifth largest in the nation. Alameda County is receiving up to $1.4 million in project funding from the California Public Utilities Commission's Self Generation Incentive Program, as well as a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense's 2003 Climate Change Fuel Cell Program.

Environmental Solutions Worldwide announced the installation of 48 of its proprietary CARB Level 2 verified Diesel Particulate Reactor (DPR) at Camptown Bus Lines, a Newark, N.J., school bus fleet operator. The Particulate Reactor is currently being installed on vehicles built from 1993 to 2002. ESW's Particulate Reactor is being installed as a direct fit replacement unit to the existing muffler, permitting a

direct, bolt-on application.

Westport Innovations Inc.'s subsidiary Westport Germany GmbH and BMW AG of Munich, Germany, have signed a new agreement for supply and development tasks of hydrogen-fueled injection components. Since 2002, Westport has worked with BMW Group to provide hydrogen fuel system hardware. BMW has been developing technology that allows the use of hydrogen in internal combustion engines for more than 20 years.

Westport also announced the final results of a demonstration of buses fuelled with a blend of hydrogen and compressed natural gas known as HCNG. The results after approximately 24,000 miles in transit bus service in California and Colorado, showed that the HCNG buses retained the same power and torque of natural gas buses while producing about 50% less N[O.sub.x] and nmHC emissions, Westport said.

Stuart Energy Systems said DTE Energy has officially opened a hydrogen fueling station in Southfield, Mich., as part of the Hydrogen Technology Park. The Stuart Energy Station (SES) is desired to provide high-purity hydrogen fuel to vehicles as well as fuel cells. This SES is capable of producing and delivering 65 kg/day of hydrogen at 6000 psi to vehicles.