Over 70% of all the world’s railway locomotives are powered by diesel engines, consuming more than 34 billion litres of diesel fuel annually. Diesel exhaust is known to be the third largest human-made source of toxic emissions that contribute to significant negative impact on human health and global air pollution. Such particles as fine particular matter (PM) cause a serious risk to health, increasing the likelihood of cancer and considered to be cancerogenic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Along with NOx and CO2 they cause negative cardiovascular and respiratory health effects; pollution of air, water, and soil; soiling; and damages to vision. In addition, diesel-powered vehicles facilitate ozone formation known as smog, acid rains, and overall global climate change.
To fight the increasing hazard, the European Union has set stricter limits on the exhaust emissions of new locomotives, leading to more complex technologies and, thus, higher costs of acquiring compliant engines, correspondingly new locomotives. European railway operators have now found themselves in difficult situation of modernising their locomotive fleets and minimising their ecological footprint, especially considering that 70% of the European diesel locomotives are at least 30 years old.
To promote clean and efficient operations DiGas has pioneered NYSMART, a dual-fuel system for diesel engines based on a proprietary patented dual-fuel technology tailored for modernisation of air-polluting diesel locomotives. Due to its modular design, NYSMART can be quickly and simply installed onto any diesel engine type. Once installed on the locomotive, the emissions are reduced for NOX in amount of nearly 50%, Particulate Maters are cut by nearly 70%, the calculated CO2 emissions are lowered by 72% and SO2 values are down by 67%. Able to deliver average fuel substitution rate up to 70% it proves to be a vital instrument in transition to pollution reduced mobility helping to reach the goals of 2030 Climate Target Plan. Additionally, the use of an advanced intelligent engine management system results in a 30% reduction in fuel costs, delivering a rapid payback for the customer while providing torque and performance matching or exceeding that of a diesel engine.
Overall, NYSMART project aims at bringing to market the innovative and cost-effective dual-fuel system and through it delivering a wide range of benefits. During the NYSMART project DiGas has reached Technology Readiness Level 9 for its dual-fuel system.
DiGas has tailored its dual-fuel system for 3 types of shunter locomotives and 1 mainline locomotive resulting in 4 types of locomotives being certified.
