Green Car Congress: Corning Plows Another $100M into Clean-Diesel Products

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Corning Plows Another $100M into Clean-Diesel Products

23 July 2005

The DuraTrap AT Filter

Corning announced that it is investing an additional $100 million to expand capabilities at its new clean-diesel products manufacturing facility in Erwin, N.Y. This expenditure is in addition to a $70-million expansion announced in February 2005.

This incremental investment will provide more firing and finishing capability to meet anticipated demand for the recently introduced Corning DuraTrap AT filter, for diesel passenger car use, as well as demand for Corning substrates and filters for medium and heavy-duty diesel engine applications. (Earlier post.)

Corning expects all the expansions and enhancements to be fully operational in late 2006.

The new Corning DuraTrap AT filter uses an advanced ceramic material and monolithic design to deliver a filtration efficiency of more than 90%. This new filter also provides excellent pressure drop performance to help minimize the impact on engine power output. The Corning DuraTrap AT filter can be used in either catalyzed or uncatalyzed applications.

The DuraTrap AT filter has a cellular structure with individual channels open and plugged at opposite ends. Exhaust gases enter the open end, flow through the pores of the cell walls, and exit through the adjacent channel. Soot particles are too large to flow through the pores, and they collect on the channel walls. Periodically, the filter is regenerated—or heated—to consume the soot and clean the filter.

Corning expects that its DuraTrap AT filter will be used on selected diesel cars sold in Europe beginning later this year and then in the US as new emissions standards come into force.

In 2001, Corning posted just $12 million in sales of its diesel products. In the first three months of 2005, however, sales topped $20 million.

July 23, 2005 in Diesel, Emissions, Vehicle Systems | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)