Corning will not supply emission control retrofit market

15 April 2011

Corning will not supply emission control components for the retrofit market in 2011, according to a letter sent by the company to customers worldwide. This decision, which affects such products as Celcor® ceramic catalyst and DuraTrap® wall-flow particulate filter substrates, will be reassessed in 2012.

The decision was explained by manufacturing capacity concerns, several recipients of the letter told DieselNet. Corning has been faced with strong OEM demand from the North American highway truck market and, beginning this year, from the nonroad Tier 4i applications. The demand for light-duty substrates has also increased as the car industry emerges from the economic recession. Corning shut down some of their production capacity during the recession—it remains uncertain if that capacity has been fully restored.

This move by Corning—a long time supporter of diesel retrofit initiatives and the main supplier of cordierite substrates for retrofit applications—also reflects the declining role of the diesel retrofit market, as clean, emission controlled diesel engines have been available for several years for highway vehicles and are being launched for nonroad applications.