New York City transit to demonstrate Johnson Matthey CRT particulate filter technology

2 February 2000

Johnson Matthey’s Environmental Products group announced that the MTA New York City Transit is the first US transit authority to field test its Continuously Regenerating Technology or CRT™ particulate filter 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% 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, has now progressed to its demonstration phase. 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 1 February 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.

The program involves monitoring of engine backpressure on the buses in order to confirm proper regeneration of the particulate filters. At two points during the field trial, a number of buses will be also subjected to comprehensive laboratory 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 device 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.

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.

For more information, contact Marty Lassen, Johnson Matthey Catalytic Systems Division, 610-341-3404, lassem@jmusa.com.

Source: Johnson Matthey