Navistar Adds SCR to EGR

International adds SCR to EGR in Maxxforce engines

LISLE, IL — Navistar International has announced that it will combine its existing in-cylinder emissions technology with liquid-based aftertreatment to meet present and future Environmental Protection Agency standards. Early in 2013, according to chairman Dan Ustian, the company will field a Maxxforce 13 engine using what it calls ‘ICT Plus’ emissions technology, meaning exhaust-gas recirculation (EGR) plus selective catalytic reduction (SCR). Ustian said a 15-liter Maxxforce engine with ICT Plus “will follow”, but no timeline was given.

While there has been speculation that Cummins might be involved in this change in direction, Navistar’s SCR technology is being developed in-house. Work on improving its EGR answer will continue, and newly installed president Tony Clark said in this morning’s webcast that the company aims to meet 2014 and 2017 greenhouse-gas emission standards early.

Navistar is also about to introduce a medium-duty truck in Europe, not incidentally, the DuraStar 4400, which will meet the Euro V emissions mandate using SCR.

The Illinois-based truck-maker tried to meet 2010 North American emissions standards without using SCR as employed by all other engine makers but has failed to reach the 0.2 grams-per-horsepower/hour NOx level of the mandate. It has been unable to get past the 0.4 mark, by all accounts, and has been using EPA credits to certify and sell its non-compliant engines.

As those accumulated credits have been running out, the agency has allowed Navistar to continue selling heavy-duty engines by paying a non-conformance penalty of $1920 per engine. But that engendered a suit brought by competing engine manufacturers against both Navistar and the EPA, and a federal judge recently ruled in favor of the competition. That left Navistar rather high and very dry, as it sought to find some solution with the EPA.

In fact, Ustian made it clear that the company is working closely with both the EPA and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in finding ways to move forward.

“We’ve shared our new technology path with the EPA and CARB, and both agencies are encouraged by our plans,” he said. “We will continue to work with the agencies to ensure that our customers receive uninterrupted deliveries… during this transition.”

In the meantime, Clark said, Navistar will continue building and selling trucks using combinations of emissions credits and non-compliance penalties. There is at this point no indication how large those penalties might be.

The company acknowledges that the ICT Plus technology will add to manufacturing costs but believes “…there will be some opportunity to offset these costs with pricing.”

Today’s announcement was short on detail, and with no question-and-answer period following the webcast, there is little more to report presently. Stay tuned. RL


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