Superdiesel to cut emissions by 60 per cent ~ station of gear

Breakthrough by tyre company Continental cuts diesel emissions by 60 per cent and improves fuel economy by 4 per cent

2017-07-08 11:00

New Super Clean Electrified Diesel technology capable of reducing real-world emissions by 60 per cent will be key to ensuring that “diesel has a future”, and Auto Express has been given an exclusive preview of how it will work.

Engineers at tech and tyre company Continental have developed an electrified after-treatment system capable of reducing NOx emissions by nearly two thirds under real-world driving. The company says that it’s already in discussions with manufacturers over the technology.

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Key to the new set-up is an electrically heated catalytic converter that uses a 48V electrical system. Johannes Drechsel, development engineer at Continental, explained to Auto Express how the tech works. “Instead of a normal catalytic converter that relies on the engine to bring it up to temperature, our catalyst relies on electricity from the 48V system to heat up,” he said.

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“Because it uses electricity rather than the engine, the catalyst heats up much quicker, which allows for high-efficiency NOx reductions.”

Drechsel pointed out that some current electronically heated catalysts rely on 12V set-ups, but the bigger 48V system is able to heat up the catalyst much more quickly. The company also tweaked other parts of the after-treatment system, such as injecting the AdBlue urea solution into the exhaust stream immediately without requiring a separate mixer.

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Continental converted an existing Volkswagen Golf to run on a 48V system instead of a regular 12V set-up, and under the forthcoming real driving emissions (RDE) cycle, it saw a 60 per cent reduction in NOx levels over the standard model, as well as a three per cent fall in CO2 emissions and a four per cent improvement in fuel economy.

Drechsel told us: “Diesel cars will continue to play a role, but they have to be clean in the future. This kind of technology will help to ensure diesel has a future.” Auto Express was able to try the modified Golf at Continental’s test track in Germany. A Portable Emissions Measurement System (PEMS) was fitted to the back of the car and during our test drive – where we accelerated up to motorway speeds – we recorded NOx emissions of 69mg/km. That’s well below the current Euro 6 limit of 80mg/km.

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Martin Saarinen

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