EPA to OK Copper Zeolite for SCR, Cummins Says

This story appears in the March 23 print edition of Transport Topics.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Cummins Inc. said it is confident the Environmental Protection Agency will approve the company’s use of copper zeolite in engines de-signed to meet 2010 emission rules, removing any potential roadblock for the new models.

Company executives, gathered here for the Mid-America Trucking Show, also showed off models of the two new heavy-duty engines Cummins will offer for next year, a 15-liter power plant and an 11.9-liter version.

“We’ve been working fully and openly with EPA” on the company’s plans to use copper zeolite as a catalyst, said James Kelly, president of Cummins’ engine business, “and we believe it will be approved.”

He said there is “no danger” the company will be forced to use another material.

Cummins intends to use copper zeolite to help break down harmful exhaust gases into nitrogen and water in its engines with selective catalytic reduction technology. Most competitors are planning to use iron zeolite.

EPA earlier raised a caution flag about copper zeolite, saying it might produce dioxin, a poison (1-12, click here for previous story).

“We’ve shared all of our data with the EPA, and there is no issue of toxicity,” Kelly said March 17, adding that Cummins’ engines might not receive formal approval until Nov. 1.

Cummins, which had decided earlier not to use SCR to meet the new rules, changed course last year, Kelly said, after its work on copper zeolite showed a marked improvement on engine performance and fuel efficiency.

Thus, any setback on the use of copper zeolite would likely have had a major effect on the company’s production plans.

Cummins originally had said it would use a more powerful version of exhaust gas recirculation in its 2010 engines. Its change to SCR left Navistar as the only manufacturer who plans to market EGR engines in the United States next year.

During a demonstration for reporters at its Cummins Crosspoint regional distribution center here, Kelly said SCR was “the right technology path” to meet the new federal rules, because it allows lower engine temperatures that should increase an engine’s life span and provide a “5% fuel-efficiency gain.”

Steve Charlton, the company’s vice president for heavy-duty engineering, said copper zeolite removed 90% of the nitrogen oxides from the exhaust stream, compared with 85% for iron zeolite.

As a result, the company expects that, in most applications, its engines will require only a 2% mix of diesel exhaust fluid to meet EPA’s standards. That mix will give the trucks greater range, because they will need less DEF.

At the same event, Jeffrey Jones, Cummins’ vice president of marketing, said the company would use federal emission credits it has earned for some of its SCR models to meet the requirement of no more than 0.2 gram of NOx per brake horsepower-hour.

Jones said Cummins would use the credits it has earned from its medium-duty engines on an “ongoing basis,” rather than as a temporary strategy.

The other engine makers that will use SCR have said they won’t use emission credits to meet EPA guidelines, while Navistar has said it will use credits for its EGR engines.

Cummins officials said final pricing decisions on the new engines haven’t yet been made. Volvo Trucks North America recently said its SCR engines for 2010 would carry a technology charge of almost $10,000.

Kelly said the company expects a 20% decline in its truck engine sales during 2009. Engine sales last year brought in about $8.8 billion for the Columbus, Ind.-based firm.

Associate News Editor Jonathan Reiskin contributed to this story.