International submits low-NOx engine to EPA for approval

Contrary to rumors prevalent in trucking media, Navistar announced that on Tuesday, Jan. 31, they submitted a MaxxForce 13 engine to the EPA for certification.

The engine is the first of the MaxxForce family of big-bore truck engines to achieve the 0.2 grams per brake horsepower per hour (gm/bhp/hr) of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) mandated for 2010 engines and beyond.

Until now, the MaxxForce engines had been certified for sale using credits earned by surpassing EPA standards with other engine models. Anyone using or buying an International truck will not have penalty fees, reported from various sources to be as much as $1,900 per truck.

There had been speculation in the industry that Navistar’s “in-cylinder” approach to achieving EPA requirements would not be successful and they would need to adopt selective catalytic reduction (SCR) using urea-based diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) to control NOx.

According to Jim Hebe, Senior Vice President, North American Sales Operations, Navistar has been in negotiations with EPA since the fourth quarter of 2010 and expects certification within 90 days. International claims their in-cylinder approach limits NOx to 0.2 gm/bhp/hr at all times, while SCR engines can legally exceed limits under cold start and other extreme operating conditions. Hebe said that the process will be transparent to International’s customers.

Courtesy of LandLine Magazine