Irisbus, the coach and bus manufacturer, has been awarded the first of a prestigious new environmental transport award for a vehicle fitted with the Eminox SCRT® system.

The Public Transport Innovation Awards, which were created under the auspices of the French transport ministry to promote innovation in mass transport, were hosted at the second European Mobility Exhibition (Transports Publics 2006) in Paris in June.

Irisibus won the ‘Energy / Environment’ category with its Citelis vehicle which has an advanced system for post-treatment of exhaust gases from its IVECO CURSOR 8 diesel engine, using the Eminox SCRT® system.

Treating exhaust gases in this way means that the Irisbus vehicle can reach not only the Euro IV and Euro V standard of emission levels, but also the more exacting European EEV (Environmentally Enhanced Vehicle) standard which signifies the most environmentally-friendly vehicles. Until now, this standard has only been possible with gas-powered vehicles. The Eminox SCRT® system helps Irisbus achieve this by lowering nitrogen oxide and particle emissions to well below the regulatory threshold. The system will be offered as an option on the new Irisbus range.

The added advantage for operators of the vehicle is that fuel and running costs are also reduced. The company estimates that the technology will reduce fuel and Adblue costs by around 1.5 per cent compared to a Euro 3 bus. For coaches, this increases to around 3 per cent.

Eminox trap helps Irisbus secure new transport award

The Eminox SCRT® system combines the market-leading CRT® technology with selective catalytic reduction (SCR), removing nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. This state-of-the-art technology can enable a vehicle to meet and exceed even the most stringent diesel emissions regulations, including Euro 4 and 5, by eliminating over 90% of the particulate matter and typically 60% or more of NOX emissions from the diesel exhaust gas. It uses AdBlue®, an aqueous solution of urea as the SCR reducing agent.

The winners of the Public Transport Innovation Awards were chosen by a panel of experts made up of representatives of the Ademe (Agency for the Environment and Energy Saving), the DRAST-Predit (Research and Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Transport), the DGMT (Sea and Transport Department), the FNAUT (National Federation of Public Transport Users Associations), the Lausanne Polytechnic School and Inrets (National Research Institute for Transport & Safety).