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Union Pacific Pilots Projects for Diesel Emissions Reduction Retrofits

Union Pacific is testing technologies to reduce diesel engine emissions in older railroad locomotives.

Through collaboration with staff at the National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Union Pacific is providing a 3,800-horsepower SD60M locomotive built in January 1992 to serve as the first freight locomotive in North America to be equipped with a set of flow-through oxidation catalyst devices manufactured by the MIRATECH Corporation.

The Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is handling the modification of the SDM60 locomotive and installation of the oxidation catalyst device. Upon installation, SwRI will perform EPA locomotive emissions tests to verify how much particulate matter is removed from the locomotive’s exhaust. Afterward, Union Pacific will relocate the locomotive to the Los Angeles Basin for at least one year of regular service with the new catalytic converter to test real-life conditions operating in over-the-road freight service.

In a similar experiment, a 1,500-horsepower yard switching locomotive built in November 1982, also provided by Union Pacific, will be retrofitted with a diesel particulate filter (DPF). The DPF initiative is the result of a four-year program, funded in part by Union Pacific, to assess clean-engine technologies for locomotive applications. The DPF acts as a filter that uses high-temperature silicon carbide blocks to trap particulate matter in the exhaust. As the gases containing the carbon particles accumulate, the device periodically heats the carbon causing it to ignite and burn off as water and carbon dioxide (active regeneration).

Over the last few years, Union Pacific has improved fuel efficiency 14 percent through operational changes and by acquiring newer, more efficient locomotives. We are now researching technologies to reduce diesel engine emissions, especially particulate matter, from older railroad locomotives. This supports our goal to reduce fuel consumption and diesel engine exhaust-related emissions.

—Bob Grimaila, Union Pacific vice president for environment and safety

Comments

richard schumacher

Is the U.P. already using ultra-low-sulfur fuel? Or are they testing cleanup devices for use with high sulfur fuel?

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