MTA NYC Transit to Demonstrate Johnson Matthey CRT Particulate Filter
3 February 2000
MTA New York City Transit to Demonstrate Johnson Matthey CRT(TM) Particulate Filter for Lowest Possible Emissions from Diesel Buses
WAYNE, Pa., Feb. 2 -- Johnson Matthey's Environmental
Products group announced that the MTA New York City Transit is the first U.S.
transit authority to field test its Continuously Regenerating Technology or
CRT particulate filter. It is a technology produced by the company's
Catalytic Systems Division as an exhaust emission control technology for
diesel powered urban buses. Requiring the use of ultra low sulfur fuel, the
CRT particulate filter, which has been widely used in Europe, removes up to 90
percent of the particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon
(HC) emissions from diesel exhaust.
The New York City fleet demonstration program, previously announced by New
York Governor George E. Pataki as part of $7 million in grants, most of which
will be used to pay for new clean-fuel buses, has now progressed from the
planning and implementation phase to the demonstration phase of the program.
"Under Governor Pataki's leadership, New York State has been an international
leader in fighting air pollution and reducing emissions from motor vehicles,"
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner John P.
Cahill said. "As part of his commitment to reducing air pollution, the
Governor has encouraged the development of innovative new technologies,
including this first-in-the-nation effort to demonstrate the viability of a
device that could dramatically cut pollution from buses and other diesel
vehicles."
Emphasizing MTA's commitment to the environment, MTA Chairman E. Virgil
Conway said: "We are committed under the direction and leadership of New York
Governor George E. Pataki to pushing the technological envelope to improve the
quality of our environment. By its nature, mass transportation is an
environmentally friendly service because it reduces by the thousands the
number of vehicles on the road on our city's streets and highways. The MTA is
committed to finding, developing and using technology that will only make our
environmentally friendly service cleaner to operate."
NYC Transit will receive $1 million of the New York State funding to test
the CRT particulate filter on 50 buses with two different model diesel engines
at the Mother Clara Hale Depot at 146th Street and Lenox Avenue, Manhattan.
The first ten (10) buses entered revenue service on February 1, 2000 with the
balance to follow in the very near future. They will operate for a year in
normal revenue service in Manhattan and the Bronx on ultra low sulfur fuel
supplied by Equilon, a Shell-Texaco joint venture. At two points during the
field trial, a number of buses will be subjected to comprehensive emissions
testing.
Michael T. Cinaglia, General Manager of the Johnson Matthey Environmental
Products group, said, "The NYC Transit test is expected to verify the
emissions reduction benefits of the CRT particulate filter, as well as its
durability on buses operated in a rigorous urban duty cycle."
"The CRT particulate filter has been successfully proven in several
European countries on more than 6,500 buses, heavy-duty trucks and municipal
vehicles. In total, the technology has accumulated hundreds of millions of
miles," Cinaglia said.
In support of the demonstration program, MTA NYC Transit President
Lawrence G. Reuter said: "MTA NYC Transit's aggressive bus emissions reduction
plan has already succeeded in reducing our fleet's generation of particulate
matter in NYC to less than 1%. Still, we see the CRT Technology as an
exciting additional weapon against pollution in our technological arsenal. We
are hopeful and optimistic that the CRT Technology, which performed so well in
European tests, will perform as well in one of the world's toughest urban mass
transportation environments."
The CRT particulate filter is a patented emission control technology that
contains a platinum-coated catalyst and a particulate filter, engineered as a
totally passive emission control system.
The CRT particulate filter mounts in the bus exhaust system in the same
location and general configuration as other typical exhaust after-treatment
devices. It is made up of two chambers. The first chamber contains a ceramic
substrate coated with a thin layer of platinum, which is a highly effective
oxidation catalyst. The catalyst converts CO and HCs into carbon dioxide and
water. The Johnson Matthey catalyst also oxidizes a portion of the nitrogen
oxide in the exhaust to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is the key to the
elimination of soot collected by the CRT particulate filter.
In the second chamber, the exhaust flows through a ceramic wall-flow
particulate filter, where gaseous components pass through but soot is trapped
on the walls of the filter, where it is destroyed by the NO2 produced by the
catalyst in the first chamber.
Cinaglia said unlike conventional exhaust filter systems, the CRT
particulate filter will not clog through the accumulation of soot because the
CRT particulate filter provides continuous cleaning (regeneration) of the
filter. Also, the CRT particulate filter can regenerate with temperatures as
low as 250 degrees Celsius, much cooler than the 600 degrees Celsius usually
required for soot to burn, thereby eliminating the need for expensive and
hard-to-maintain heating equipment.
In addition to Johnson Matthey and NYC Transit, the remaining partners in
the fleet demonstration program include Corning International, Corning, NY,
supplying the ceramic wall flow filters; the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation, with responsibility to help define and oversee the
emissions testing of the buses; Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, who will
actually perform the emissions testing; Equilon, who will be producing the
ultra low sulfur fuel; and RAD Energy Corporation, NYC Transit's current local
fuel supplier.
MTA New York City Transit is a public benefit corporation of New York
State. It is one of five agencies of the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority. NYC Transit operates the New York City subway system and a fleet
of over 4,000 urban transit buses -- the largest fleet in North America. The
buses travel approximately 120 million miles annually in revenue service
throughout the five boroughs of New York City.
Traded on the London Stock Exchange, Johnson Matthey is a highly
diversified global technology firm. The $5 billion company is 180 years old.
Johnson Matthey's Environmental Products group of the Catalytic Systems
Division, the world's largest supplier of catalysts for the automobile
industry, provides catalytic solutions for air quality problems created by
mobile and stationary sources. The group designs and supplies catalysts and
catalytic systems to control carbon monoxide, particulate, hydrocarbons,
nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.
For more information, contact Marty Lassen, Johnson Matthey Catalytic
Systems Division, Environmental Products, 434 Devon Park Drive, Wayne, PA
19087-1889; Tel: 610-341-3404; Fax: 610-971-3116; or call the Johnson Matthey
Toll-Free Emissions Hotline: 1-800-RX FOR Air. E-mail: lassem@jmusa.com;