Conference report: 12th CTI Forum Exhaust Systems
15 February 2014
The 12th International CTI Forum: Exhaust Systems was held on January 27-29, 2014 in Mainz, Germany. The three-day program started with an introductory workshop on emission technologies for diesel and gasoline engines (S. Carstens, EngineSens). Conference presentations during the following days covered topics ranging from combustion technologies through emission aftertreatment, sensors and OBD in diesel and gasoline engines. The Forum also included a tour of the Mercedes-Benz engine plant in Mannheim, where the participants could see the production process of the new series OM47x, Euro VI Mercedes engines.
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Regulatory Trends. The opening talk was given by R. Leonhard [Bosch] who discussed future mobility challenges due to depletion of fossil fuel resources and increasingly more stringent greenhouse gas emission regulations. The new European CO2 emission target for new cars of 95 g/km, to be phased-in by 2021, will require a 32% emission reduction from the 2010 level (140 g/km). Most of the necessary emission reduction—some 80-90%, according to Bosch analysis—will be achieved by changes in internal combustion engine (ICE) and vehicle technology and only up to 10% through the use of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles (EV/PHEV). Technically achievable targets for compact class vehicles (1,400 kg, 100 kW) include 95 g/km CO2 (4 l/100 km fuel consumption) for gasoline vehicles and 70 g/km (3 l/100 km) for diesel cars. The technologies include engine downsizing, start/stop, hybridization, DI for gasoline engines and 50% DeNOx for diesels. With the addition of waste heat recovery, variable valve train and 80% efficient DeNOx, future diesel hybrids could possibly achieve CO2 emissions of 50 g/km.
While electrical mobility would have to be added to the ICE technology portfolio to meet EU 2050 emission targets, several barriers exist that make a wider adoption of electric vehicles difficult. One important factor is the slow recharging rate in electric vehicles—the energy flow during EV battery charging reaches only up to 10 kW, which provides for only a 1 km vehicle range after 1 minute of charge, compared to 24,000 kW energy flow during fueling of an ICE vehicle and an 800 km range after 1 minute of fueling. Bosch is also predicting that the energy efficiency gap between ICE and battery electric vehicles will narrow over time. The respective efficiencies, at 29% for the ICE vehicle and 57% for the EV in 2010, are predicted to be at 57% and 67% in 2060.
The next CTI conference on emission control technologies will be held in Detroit, USA, on September 9-10, 2014.
Conference website: exhaustsystems-forum.com