Objective
To demonstrate that three-way catalyst closed-loop controlled methane fuelled city vehicles, meeting very low emission (carbon monoxide: 2.0 g/kWh, total hydrocarbons: 0.6 g/kWh, nitrogen oxides: 4 g/kWh and particulates: 0.05 g/kWh according to 13 modes European cycle), represent a rational use of energy in transport because they :
- are able to maintain a very high thermal efficiency (up to a maximum of 0.36) in spite of such a low emission level;
- use natural gas, i.e. the most abundant and environmental friendly alternative fuel;
- can run on landfill gas produced by solid waste material collected by garbage trucks in the city.
The demonstration will be carried out by mean of fleet tests of 11 city vehicles of different types , i.e. buses, delivery vans, garbage trucks and minibuses, in different European cities, i.e. Bilbao, Brescia, Madrid, Ravenna and Turin.
ref.to final technical report.
Nowadays many countries in Europe and in North-America, e.g. California, are considering the opportunity to use CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) engines to comply with atmospheric emission levels in the cities beyond year 2000. In the world, engine manufacturers have studied and developed CNG engine configurations based on different combustion approaches (i.e. stoichiometric engine plus 3-way catalyst or ultralean air/fuel mixture plus oxidation catalyst or stratified combustion plus oxidation catalyst, etc...).
All these very low emitting CNG dedicated engines, however, are at a prototype stage; furthermore of major concern is the catalyst conversion efficiency that, during the real engine operation, can drop down to very low level thwarting the very good emission figures achieved by the engine at beginning of its life. In previous research activities DEGUSSA developed catalysts purposely designed for methane-fuelled engines, while IVECO developed a highly efficient stoichiometric engine configuration closed loop controlled by lambda sensor plus methane dedicated vehicles. The innovative part of the project is to demonstrate, with a large fleet test, that these CNG dedicated vehicles can maintain, in a year of real vehicle operations, the very low emission figures achieved at the beginning of the engine life. Another even more innovative part of the project is to demonstrate that the same CNG engines and, above all, the same 3-way catalysts can equip garbage trucks running with compressed landfill gas (LFG), after its concentration and purification.
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
DEM - Demonstration contractsCoordinator
10156 Torino
Italy