Alan Martin, Customer Relations Manager at Baumot UK, talks to Jade Smith about the company’s BNOx exhaust after treatment system and its new Development and Innovation Centre, which has been established at Silverstone Park in Towcester
The Baumot Group is a leading supplier of exhaust gas after treatment. It offers a broad portfolio of exhaust after treatment systems for retrofit, including original equipment and aftermarket applications. The systems are used in a variety of applications both on-road and off-road.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced plans to retrofit more than half of London’s bus fleet to meet Euro 6 emissions standard by 2020. Following a competitive tender process, five suppliers have been appointed to retrofit the exhaust systems – one of which is Baumot UK.[wlm_nonmember][…]
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Baumot UK
Baumot UK Limited is part of Twintec Baumot in Germany, which is a manufacturer of products for exhaust gas aftertreatment, focusing on NOx and particulate matter reductions. The company provides solutions worldwide suitable for anything from light commercial, heavy commercial, buses, cars and agricultural machinery.
Interkat GmbH, based in Germany, specialises in catalytic coatings using precious metals which is beneficial to what Baumot UK does.
Alan Martin, Customer Relations Manager at Baumot UK, took up the story: “We design, develop, simulate, prototype, apply and test exhaust aftertreatments to suit individual vehicle types. At the moment, we’re specifically focusing on buses and coaches, having been cited as one of Transport for London’s (TfL) preferred suppliers.
“Baumot UK has its Innovation and Development Centre located at Silverstone Park in Towcester, adjacent to the British Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit at Silverstone, where ongoing design and development work is being carried out to extend the product range for both original equipment and after-market applications.
“We’ve been in the new centre for about three to four months now and we’ll be officially opening the centre in October. Being based at Silverstone is great because there are a lot of electronic specialists and experience centred here working with the Formula 1 teams, so we have the opportunity to draw on that experience. Workshops are also being established in west and north London to support the growing demand from operators to meet the challenges of the forthcoming low emission zone (LEZ) and ultra low emission zone (ULEZ).”
The process
Alan explained the method Baumot UK uses to fit a new exhaust aftertreatment system: “First we strip out the existing exhaust system from the vehicle, then using 3D measurement we measure the area available for us to work with and using 3D Prototype Printing we design a system to fit. The vehicle is given back to the customer while the new system is designed and manufactured in a couple of weeks. The vehicle is then brought back for the system to be installed.”
Along with passive and active diesel particle filter systems (DPF), Baumot UK’s product portfolio includes the BNOx SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) system. It comprises a generator that doses ammonia gas directly into the exhaust line. The NH3 (ammonia) converts NOx into harmless N2 (diatomic nitrogen) and H2O (water).
The Baumot BNOx system is highly efficient and compact so it fits in the vehicle neatly and can be installed either as a retrofit or original equipment in diesel vehicles. It achieves a 97% NOx saving and 95% particulates saving. These are real-time savings rather than theoretical or calculation. The BNOx system also operates at lower temperatures: 150°C rather than 230°C like some conventional types, making it ideal for citybus applications.
“One of the big problems with citybus operation is trying to get the exhaust up to a high enough temperature, simply because of the stop-start nature of the business,” Alan said. “It’s different for coaching operation on motorways as the exhaust is reaching the required high temperatures so citybuses need something that will cater for low temperature operation, which is exactly what the Baumot BNOx system provides.
“In contrast to other conventional SR-systems the production of the ammonia gas from the AdBlue takes place in a separate generator. This enables a direct NH3 dosing to the exhaust enabling the conversion of the ammonia gas to take place outside the exhaust. This overcomes the problems of incomplete decomposition of the AdBlue which leads to clogging of the filter and injector. There are other ammonia gas systems, but they utilise ammonia gas cylinders which the operators have to maintain, whereas the Baumot BNOx system is integral with the exhaust system and simply converts the AdBlue and replaces the conventional system already on the bus. It’s quite unique.
“The vehicles have to be Millbrook-tested so we put each vehicle type through the Millbrook London transport Bus (MLTB) test cycle to ensure it achieves the appropriate emissions savings. Once one model has achieved the certificate the subsequent vehicles are ready to go.
“We fit around five systems a week at Silverstone Park, so each workshop in London would be able to handle at least five systems a week. We’re in conversations with all the London operators at the moment.
“The BNOx system can have a five-year warranty. All vehicles have to be fitted with telematics so we can monitor the emissions performance of the vehicles on a day-to day basis on behalf of the operator to ensure that the system is operating properly and AdBlue is being put in. This information can be supplied to the operator. That was a prerequisite for London. It’s a simple, cost-effective and a proven technology.”
Vehicle types
“At the moment, we’re virtually solely working on buses,” Alan said. “We’re cataloguing some coaches by fitting data loggers onto them to measure certain areas of the vehicle such as temperature, engine pressures and so on. These data loggers are left on for around two weeks before the information is extracted.
“The challenge with a coach is that it can have different types of operation – from urban, motorway to city – which have to be measured to ensure the appropriate system is developed. There is also a much broader range of vehicles in operation and some of them are a lot older than the buses we work with. Our technology can be applied to a Euro 2 vehicle to bring them up to Euro 6 emissions standard and beyond.
“We’re working closely with the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) to look at the best way to tackle the coach market. Plans have been made to expand the ULEZ in 2019 beyond Central London, one year ahead of schedule. 2019 is just around the corner and there’s a lot to be achieved in a short space of time. It’s a big opportunity for exhaust aftertreatment manufacturers.
“I know the coach operators are a little anxious about what is going on and what they’re going to have to do – We spoke at the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) National Engineering Committee. Significant amounts of Government funding are being made available to London and local authorities and they are naturally anxious as to what is available to them, given that they will have to meet the same time schedules and criteria to operate in LEZs and CAZs.
“School buses are another challenge but we are completing around 30 for Transport for Greater Manchester. There’s also a big challenge in London on taxis: we have a black cab which we are currently working on. We also have many systems installed on off-road vehicles such as diggers and dump trucks.
“We are talking with bus and coach operators outside of London as well as owners of off-road vehicles, so we’ve got an extensive portfolio going on now.”
Personally
Alan explained that he has been in the bus industry for many years and retired in June last year.
“I joined the industry by doing an apprenticeship with Albion Motors,” he recalled. “I went into mechanical engineering with them before they were taken over by Leyland Motors around 1960, where I stayed for around 30 years having also worked during this time at Bristol Commercial Vehicles who again were taken over by Leyland. Leyland Bus was taken over and I spent a little bit of time with Volvo before I was offered a job at Scania where I stayed for 20 years. I was very involved at Scania in the design and development work on the gas projects in the UK and project-led the double-deck gas bus.
“Baumot UK got in touch with me, presumably because I have a lot of experience with low emissions and working with LowCVP and other committees. I agreed to do some consultancy work for them a few days a week on the business development side, looking at where our technology fits and how we can accelerate the introduction of Euro 6 emissions standards as quickly as we can, without operators having to go to the significant cost of buying a new vehicle.
“I am now the Customer Relations Manager Baumot UK. My role is very varied – I am still only working part-time. It depends on the demand from the marketplace. Next week, for example, I am visiting three customers so I’ll be travelling for three days, whereas I’m at the development centre for two days this week.”
so each workshop in London would be able to handle at least five systems a week
The future
“We’re in a time of momentous change,” Alan mused. “I’ve spent 50 years in the industry where the diesel engine reigned supreme, but in the last decade the rapid change in technology has been amazing. In terms of hybrid, electric, gas and hydrogen vehicles – and I have recently read that here are solar buses being trialled – technology has run amok.
“The decision on which technology to select is not straightforward for operators. Those in London are obviously influenced by the decision on single decks becoming completely electric and hybrid double-decks, but outside London there is some confusion.
“The recent announcement of banning the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040 is still 23 years away, but there are actions that can be taken now. I know that part of Sadiq Khan’s proposals is to include exhaust retrofit systems but the 23-year delay is perhaps influenced by making these alternative technologies commercially viable. There are bigger opportunities for exhaust retrofits, not just on buses but on taxis, coaches and so on. This could accelerate the introduction of Euro 6 NOx and PM emission levels more quickly and more cost effectively right across the piece and help to combat the cost of alternative-fuel vehicles, which has to be an influencing factor. In addition, exhaust after treatment systems do not require expensive infrastructures to support them.
“We need to have a national emissions standard across the country, and cannot leave it to the various local authorities to introduce their own standards otherwise we’re going to get into a real mess. By achieving this it will make it a lot simpler and easier for the operators to work towards.
“Buses are relatively straightforward because we’re dealing with London initially and the standard has been set, but coaches are much more difficult given their range and variation of operation, even in just trying to establish a suitable test cycle for them. For buses, we must use the London test cycle for everything, but for coaches it’s going to be more challenging to come up with a test programme.”
Concluding thoughts
Asked for his final thoughts, Alan said: “I’m very impressed with the Baumot technology and approach. The company has laid out exactly what it is going to do, it has invested heavily in this development centre in Silverstone Park and it’s an interesting technology that overcomes a lot of the problems that after treatment technologies currently have, which was recognised in the discussions we had with TfL.
“As far as accelerating the reduction of emissions, the Baumot BNOx system is certainly one of the most cost-effective and affordable ways to go forward, on all types of vehicles. Exhaust aftertreatment systems are a low-cost solution to the problem of air quality.”[/wlm_ismember]
