Canadian firm NxtGen applies non-catalytic process to curb emissions
better than SCR does

NxtGen Emission Controls has $2.5 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (about $2.38 million U.S.) to further its technique of using syngas generated onboard diesel vehicles to reduce emissions while improving fuel efficiency.

NxtGen uses a non-catalytic process to economically generate syngas from diesel fuel and exhaust. The hydrogen-rich syngas is used to treat the bulk of the exhaust in a manner somewhat analogous to selective catalytic reduction, an effective technique but one that requires trucks to carry a supply of urea or ammonia.

No Extra Tanks
“We use only the resources that are already present on the truck,” says NxtGen business development VP Brian Kahnert. Besides requiring no extra chemicals (and the tanks to carry them), the NxtGen system is more effective, he says — “NxtGen’s system uses syngas to regenerate both diesel particulate filters and lean NOx traps.”

SCR is effective only for NOx, Kahnert says. For OEM applications, the NxtGen system can
improve fuel economy too, by allowing manufacturers to design and program their engines for maximum efficiency, something they can’t do without increasing pollution. “If you tune an engine for better fuel economy you will produce more soot and NOx,” Kahnert told F&F. “Our system cleans that up.”

“Using syngas for diesel aftertreatment enables OEMs to eliminate both complex engine operating modes and the fuel consumption penalty associated with other aftertreatment approaches,” says a company backgrounder. The document notes that NxtGen Emission Controls was established in 2004 by former employees of Ballard Power Systems and QuestAir Technologies. It says that post-2010 new diesel exhaust aftertreatment represents an annual market of $1.2 billion, or nearly $2 billion counting off-road vehicles.

NxtGen says its system can be retrofitted to existing trucks too. “We have hardware and it’s ready to go,” Kahnert says.

NxtGen will use the SDTC money to fit its system to medium- and heavy-duty commercial trucks to validate performance and durability in daily over-the road operation.