Emissions Control Technologies and the Euro 5/6 Emissions Legislation

Integrated approach
The industry that develops and produces the key active components of motor vehicle emission control
equipment remains committed to delivering the products that enable their customers, the motor industry,
to achieve the best possible control of motor vehicle emissions.
The critical areas of emissions control are catalysts for petrol engines, particulate filters for diesel
engines and NOx control systems for diesel and direct-injection gasoline engines.
What technologies are available for the Euro 5 ?
AECC believes that Euro 5 limits need not be set as fuel neutral. Specific engine and combustion
technologies require a specific and optimised emissions control approach. This implies that different
requirements are to be imposed for petrol and diesel engines, as they are for CO2.
For petrol engines, Three-Way Catalysts with closed-loop control is the preferred technology that is
used for all new petrol engines that are running at stoichiometric conditions to control CO, HC and NOx
emissions. Over 89% of current Euro 4 petrol vehicles already meet the proposed Euro 5 limitsi. The
ongoing process of improving autocatalysts means that these limits are being achieved with less
precious metals and hence more cost-effectively than in the past. For a properly designed system, it is
unlikely that this will have a significant impact on CO2ii.
For diesel engines, Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) are already in high-volume series production and
are being fitted to an increasing number of passenger cars in Europe. They are highly efficient, reducing
both the mass of particulate matter and the number of ultra-fine particles by over 95%. The technology
and its application are well understood and a significant increase in production volume will become
available during 2006. Results from a recent AECC Light-duty test programme showed PM results on a
standard Euro 4 diesel car equipped with a DPF to be below 1 mg/km.
For diesel and direct-injection gasoline engines, the catalyst industry has developed two technologies
for the control of NOx in an exhaust containing high oxygen levels: Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR)
and NOx Adsorbers. These technologies are already used in Europe: SCR is the preferred technology
for Euro IV/V trucks and buses and NOx Adsorbers are in use on Light-duty direct-injection gasoline
vehicles and Diesel vehicles such as the Toyota Avensis D-Cat. DaimlerChrysler has announced that
they will offer passenger cars with these technologies in the US market from autumn 2006 and in
Europe from 2008. They showed a Mercedes-Benz E320 and concept Jeep Vision SUV in the US in
January of this year. Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler Chrysler,
says in DaimlerChrysler’s press releaseiii “We can offer BLUETEC in all our brands for the benefit of our
customers.” A Euro 4 vehicle tested in the AECC programme indicated that NOx values below 150
mg/km are already achieved on some vehicles through engine measures alone.
Other AECC data indicates over 75% NOx reduction in non-optimised Light-duty applications using
SCR or NOx Adsorber and over 85% reduction by SCR in Heavy-duty applicationsiv. The urea-based
SCR technology was announced by ACEA in 2003 as the technology enabling Heavy-duty engine
manufacturers to optimise fuel consumption and thus obtaining fuel savings of 5 to 7%v.
What about a second step, Euro 6, and its technology line-up ?
DPFs are available now. For NOx control, achieving full-volume production in Europe will require time
for the application of the technologies for specific vehicles and for the ramp-up of production once clear
signals are given that these technologies will be required.
The motor industry has said that a minimum of 3 years will be needed for industrial development for the
introduction of new emission standardsvi. Allowing time for confirmation of the necessary emissions
standards and for the introduction of production facilities as well as the vehicle development time, such
technologies could therefore be available for volume production by 2012. AECC can confirm that NOx
reduction technology for diesels can be available for application across the board by 2012, if legislation
requires it to be, and earlier for selected vehicles.
The CARS 21 report suggests stipulating an N+2 step at the introduction of the N+1 legislation to help
the industry with their investments and to stimulate competitiveness. The European Heavy-duty Euro
IV/V legislation has demonstrated that having both stages in place can bring appropriate technologies to
the market earlier than anticipated.
Particulate Mass (PM) and Particle Numbers Criteria
AECC has been involved in developing the Particulate Measurement Protocol (PMP) from the beginning
and supports its development by the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations in
Geneva. AECC has applied the newly developed Light-duty PMP method in its recent test programme
and demonstrated the robustness of the improved gravimetric method, measuring PM, and the new
particle count method, measuring numbers of ultrafine particles.
The PMP interlaboratory tests that are managed by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre and for
which AECC supplied the “golden” reference vehicle (a standard production Euro 4 vehicle with DPF)
are demonstrating the reproducibility of the PMP measurements in various labs in Europe and Asiavii.
AECC has demonstrated that, for low PM-emissions vehicles such as diesel cars that are equipped with
a DPF, there is no correlation between the PM and Particle Number measurement resultsii. Therefore
both metrics, Particulate Mass and Particle Number, are needed to reduce the negative impacts on
human health and the environment of ultrafine particles from lean combustion engines.
Durability Requirements
Over 2 million DPF-equipped diesel vehicles are reliably operating on the European roads since 2000,
when the French manufacturer Peugeot-Citroën (PSA) introduced their FAP system. The correct
functioning of DPF technology under extreme driving conditions has been reported recently viii.
Additionally, AECC has demonstrated in its Light-duty test programme the durability of a DPF-equipped
diesel car up to 160000kmii, which is the distance proposed by the European Commission for Euro 5.
The Commission’s Impact assessment clearly shows that the increased durability distance is a more
realistic representation of today’s vehicles use and constitutes a step towards harmonisation to the US
requirement of 120000miles (192000km).
A test programme commissioned by AECC in 2002 demonstrated 50% of Heavy-duty Euro V standards
in place for 2008 by fitting a combined catalyst-based DPF and urea-based SCR system to a medium-
duty Euro III engine after 1000h ageing, equivalent to 250000km real-world drivingiv.
Requirements for Natural Gas (CNG) Vehicles
Catalyst technologies are available to deal with the specific emissions from such vehicles.
Requirements for Heavy Cars and Vans
Emissions control technologies similar to those used for Light- and Heavy-duty applications are and will
be available for heavier passenger cars and light commercial vehicles.
Comitology Part of the Split Level Euro 5 Regulation
AECC looks forward to seeing the Commission’s proposal for the comitology part of the Euro 5
Regulation as soon as possible as it closely interrelates with the political part of Euro 5 Important
legislative prescriptions such as the testing methods and technical characteristics, the improved
gravimetric procedure for PM, the new particle count method from PMP for controlling ultrafine particles,
the specification of reference fuels for type-approval testing, deterioration factors that are in line with the
new durability distance, etc. need to be evaluated against the content of the co-decision part.

AECC is an international non-profit scientific association of European companies engaged in the development, production and
testing of catalyst and filter based technologies for vehicle and engine emissions control. This includes the research,
development, testing and manufacture of autocatalysts, ceramic and metallic substrates and speciality materials incorporated into
the catalytic converter and filter and catalyst based technologies to control diesel engine emissions (especially particulates and
nitrogen oxides). Members’ technology is incorporated in the exhaust emission control systems on all new cars and an increasing
number of commercial vehicles, buses and motorcycles in Europe. More information on AECC is at www.aecc.be.

i
http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/ UK VCA Type Approval data for 1865 petrol-engined Euro 4 vehicles, March 2006
ii
http://www.aecc.be/en/Publications/Publications.html, AECC light-duty test program, joint AECC-AVL/MTC publications
iii
http://www.daimlerchrysler.com/ NAIAS 2006 Detroit story, August 2005 and BLUETEC Podcast, January 2006
iv
http://www.aecc.be/en/Publications/Publications.html, AECC heavy-duty test program, joint AECC-Ricardo publications
v
http://www.acea.be/, ACEA Statement on the Adoption of SCR Technology for HDVs, 30 June 2003
vi
Response to Stakeholder Consultation on Euro 5 Emission Limits for Light Duty Vehicles, ACEA, September 2005
vii
http://www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29wgs/wp29grpe/pmp16.html, Working papers of the Informal group on the Particle
Measurement Programme (PMP), Geneva
viii
ATZ 7-8/2005 Jahrgang 107