Amminex, a Faurecia company, and its three partners the Technical University of Graz, Johnson Matthey, and ICCT have won the European Commission’s €1.5-million Horizon Prize in the Engine Retrofit for Clean Air category. It recognizes the outstanding emissions reduction potential of the ASDS technology (Ammonia Storage and Delivery System) for retrofitting existing diesel vehicles. (Earlier post.)

The Horizon Prize for the cleanest engine retrofit was awarded to the contestants who demonstrated on a running vehicle a solution for an existing engine and powertrains that best addresses the issue of greatly reducing emissions of NO_x, particles, hydrocarbons in real driving conditions, while ensuring low levels of undesired other pollutants also in the future.

The technology should not affect the operational capabilities of the retrofitted vehicles; i.e., it should not significantly increase the fuel consumption, at the same time providing sufficient dynamic performance for normal vehicle driving.

A Euro 5 diesel car was retrofitted with the Amminex ASDS technology combined with an SCR catalyst from Johnson Matthey reducing NO_x emissions to Euro 6 equivalent levels in real driving conditions.

ASDS delivers ammonia in a gaseous state which allows for superior NO_x reduction for diesel engines even in cold and urban driving conditions.

ASDS can be installed on both new and older vehicles with a simple technology swap (see diagram below).

A NO_x reduction of 85% can be achieved without optimization of the catalyst or engine (type I retrofit). In combination with the latest catalysts, a removal of up to 99% can be achieved (type II retrofit). Pairing the latest generation of SCR catalysts with ASDS is ideal because the catalyst benefits from increased activity in the low-temperature range.

Source: Amminex.

The Engine Retrofit for Clean Air award aims to spur the development of new technologies that can be applied to existing powertrains to reduce pollutant emissions in real driving conditions to the lowest level possible, in order to improve air quality in cities.

Faurecia is actively developing the solution for the commercial vehicle market and has won contracts to retrofit a large number of urban buses in Copenhagen and London as well as fleets in Korea. With a track record of 50 million kilometers driven, it demonstrates that ASDS is a fast and cost-effective way to reduce NO_x in cities and improve air quality.