Eminox to work with operators to ensure buses meet Euro 4 standard or better
Eminox SCRT emissions technology is being rolled out as part of a major retrofit programme in London to tackle air pollution. This will play a part in ensuring all of TfL’s buses meet Euro 4 standard or better for NOx emissions by the end of 2015.
Six operators are involved in the programme, with Go-Ahead Group, FirstGroup and one other firm already selecting Eminox as their partner. The rest are yet to announce their decision. Eminox will work with Go-Ahead Group to upgrade 259 buses and with First Group for a further 90. London’s bus retrofit programme, the largest scheme of its kind in Europe, is funded by £5m from central Government, matched by £5m from TfL. In total approximately 900 buses are being upgraded – a combination of Volvo B7s, Dennis Darts and Tridents.
The Euro III buses, already retrofitted with CRT technology to reduce particulate matter, will have their exhaust systems adapted to full SCRT. However, this is not a simple case of bolting on an SCR system as the whole unit must be repackaged and integrated onto the bus within the available space.
“Buses are responsible for 10% of NOx emissions across the capital and this retrofit programme will make significant inroads in reducing these.” said Kathye Henderson, Marketing Manager at Eminox. “I’m delighted Eminox is to play an important role in the programme which represents an effective, available and affordable means of cutting emissions from public transport.”
The bus retrofit programme follows a successful TfL pilot project in which a new variant of Eminox’s SCRT technology was developed to specifically target reduction of primary NO2 emissions while maintaining other emissions reductions. Eminox engineers have worked closely with catalyst experts at Johnson Matthey to meet the challenge. Independent testing carried out on the MLTB cycle demonstrated reductions of almost 90% of NOx and over 50% of primary NO2. This beat TfL’s ambitious targets and means the vehicles are expected to operate close to Euro VI emissions levels. This is backed by in-use data showing real-world NOx reduction of over 80% on London buses.
Eminox’s SCRT technology was recently commended at the 2013 Rushlight awards and is capable of upgrading buses as old as Euro II to meet Euro V emissions standards, 15 existing vehicles to be upgraded for the cost of one new bus.
For further information, please visit www.eminox.com
