Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), the major bus and metro provider to Barcelona and surrounding areas, has selected Eminox’s SCRT® technology to help them cut emissions from more than 360 buses.
The reduction of particulate matter and nitrogen oxide from public service vehicles is seen as crucial to improving air quality for the residents of Barcelona. To achieve this, the Catalan Government issued an air quality decree stipulating that all Euro 2 and 3 buses in Catalonia must be upgraded to a minimum standard of Euro 4 by 2014. Particulate matter is a major health concern as ultra-fine particles can cause damage to the heart and lungs, and nitrogen oxides are linked with respiratory problems.
TMB wanted to take their Euro 2 and 3 vehicles beyond the minimum requirement of Euro 4, targeting Euro 5 standard. Independent testing at homologation test centre Idiada, confirmed that the Eminox SCRT system could go further, reaching emissions equivalent to EEV (Enhanced Environmentally Friendly Vehicle) today’s most advanced standard. By using Eminox SCRT® technology, TMB can achieve this at a fraction of the cost of new buses. This retrofit solution will remove over 90% of particulate matter, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, plus more than 70% of nitrogen oxides.
Carlos Vicente, Business Development Manager commented “The decision to retrofit their buses with our new compact SCRT is a very economical solution for TMB – for the price of one new bus, it was possible to upgrade over 15 buses to Euro 5 and EEV standards.
As part of what is now Europe’s largest retrofit programme to target PM and NOx, 363 Euro 2 and 3 buses will receive the SCRT upgrade. Eminox’s team of specialists have already fitted 120 buses with the SCRT® technology on site at TMB depots. A programme is in place to complete phase 2 of the ambitious upgrade project during 2011.
As well as being, a cost effective solution the technical performance and innovative design of the SCRT® system convinced TMB to award the business for 363 vehicles to Eminox. Eminox have broken new ground by producing an ultra compact system that meets the limited space envelopes on the TMB low floor city bus fleet. The SCRT comes with state of the art active emission control technology that monitors engine performance and adapts the system to constantly achieve the best emissions performance. TMB were also extremely impressed with the comprehensive fitting and service package available from Eminox.
Josep-María Armengol, who is responsible for engineering and new developments at TMB stated “We are very pleased that we put our trust in Eminox and thanks to them, we have been able to adapt to these changes in environmental legislation. The Eminox team has demonstrated great speed and flexibility in developing their systems to fit the tight space envelopes of our low floor buses. Their skill in producing solutions without compromising on quality is highly valued at TMB”. He added , “Eminox’s capability to provide real world NOx reduction data in real time, has been crucial for TMB to measure our achievements against our air quality objectives”.