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With the new decade come the new government regulations regarding diesel emissions. Diesel engines produced now must burn an amazing 90 percent cleaner than those produced three years ago for the 2007 model year.
While CO2 emissions garner most of the attention in typical gasoline-burning engines, NOx emissions are paid the most attention with diesel engines. These emissions are typically much larger than in a comparable gasoline-powered engine due to the high temperature of combustion in compression-ignition engines. There are several technologies on the market to effectively scrub NOx emissions from diesels, the most common being urea.
Both Ford and GM are adding a new NOx scrubbing process to all 2011 model year diesel engines produced. This is the same method used by Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz on their diesel engines available in the U.S. Ram’s cab chassis trucks will also use urea to eliminate NOx emissions.
The urea is used in a selective catalytic convertor where it effectively scrubs the majority of the NOx emissions from the exhaust before it exits the vehicle. While urea is effective, one downside is it must be refilled. If the urea runs low and the owner doesn’t refill it, the vehicle will actually be rendered useless until it is refilled, as vehicle software does not let the vehicle start without sufficient urea. Urea usually only needs to be refilled around every 3000 miles for most manufacturers and costs around $2.50 a gallon.
Another method is used by Volkswagen and Ram on the new 2500 and 3500 Heavy Duty pickups. This method uses a catalytic convertor that selectively traps the majority of the NOx emissions. The selective catalytic convertor does become full after a certain number of engine hours, but instead of needing replacement it effectively burns the NOx emissions off in such a manner that they are rendered harmless.
Source: PickupTrucks.com
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