Selective Catalytic Reduction

Volkswagen might need a separate fix for the two different NOx-reducing systems in its diesel engines with emissions-evading software, but both solutions could affect performance.

Navistar International's not beating 'em, so it looks like it's going to join 'em. The truckmaker, which has been pushing its exhaust-gas recirculation process as a cheaper, simpler emissions-treatment method than the selective catalytic reduction method used by its competitors, will likely switch to SCR to better appease the Environmental Protection Agency, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the process that weren't identified.

Over in Europe, Mercedes-Benz has just introduced a version of the diesel powertrain for its buses that passes the EEV emissions standards without having to use either a particulate filter (DPF) or selective catalytic reduction (SCR).

Thomas Built Buses, the school bus manufacturing unit of Daimler Trucks North America, has just received its first order for new clean diesel buses. Montgomery County in Maryland has ordered 59 new Saf-T-Liner HDX school buses equipped with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems. The SCR system eliminates most nitrogen oxide emissions and allow the buses to meet the 2010 emissions standards for heavier trucks.

Mercedes-Benz ML320 BlueTec - Click above for high res image gallery

Just as a whole batch of new fifty state-legal diesel vehicles are about to hit the market in the U.S., chemical company BASF is set to take advantage of the situation. BASF has announced that they will be raising the price of AdBlue by €45 per 1,000 liters. AdBlue is the 1/3 urea, 2/3 water solution used for the NOx after-treatment system in new diesel engines. The urea solution is injected into the exhaust gas stream where the heat of the exhaust causes it turn into ammonia by a hydrolysi