ArvinMeritor's Clean Air Solutions Provide Technologies Tailored to Address Commercial Vehicle Emissions Challenges

TROY, Mich., June 11 -- ArvinMeritor, Inc. today unveiled its suite of Clean Air Solutions that will provide commercial truck and bus original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with a number of technologies and products to address vehicle emissions challenges. OEMs will now be able to select the solution that best suits their individual needs.

ArvinMeritor's proven competencies of thermal management and exhaust system design, packaging and durability are a common thread connecting all of ArvinMeritor's Clean Air Solutions. Aimed at heavy truck, light truck and passenger car applications in North America, Europe and Asia, the technologies under development include effective applications to meet upcoming near-term diesel exhaust emission regulations, as well as innovative solutions for the increasingly stringent standards mandated for the future.

"ArvinMeritor's core competency is emissions system design, manufacturing and integration," said Tom Gosnell, president of ArvinMeritor's Commercial Vehicle Systems business group. "We are particularly proud to provide highly engineered technology and innovation in a broad product portfolio. Our Clean Air Solutions offer a suite of options that can be tailored to specific applications, whether they're in the United States or Europe, on long-haul or urban delivery trucks, or for school buses or garbage trucks."

To comply with upcoming U.S. and European regulations, it is expected that all manufacturers will need to implement a combination of exhaust after- treatment systems with engine design and control changes.

U.S. standards for the commercial vehicle industry call for the reduction of particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions from diesel- powered vehicles by 90 percent or more from current levels, in stages between 2007 and 2010. Similarly stricter European standards are being mandated in 2005 and 2008.

Included within ArvinMeritor's suite of Clean Air Solutions are applications, technologies and products to address both PM, NOx and unburned hydrocarbon (HC) issues.

Particulate Matter Problem, ArvinMeritor Solutions

Particulate matter is formed by the incomplete combustion of fuel in diesel engines, and has been identified as a significant environmental concern. To control PM, both the commercial vehicle and light vehicle industries are pursuing the installation of PM filters in the exhaust system of the vehicle. The filter "traps" the PM from the exhaust stream and prevents it from reaching the atmosphere. Over time, the PM filter "fills up" with PM. If not cleaned or "regenerated," the vehicle's performance and fuel economy is adversely affected and the filter will require replacement.

This regeneration process can be achieved passively (with no specific control intervention) or actively (with a computer-controlled strategy). Light vehicles tend to have passive PM traps, and commercial vehicles will tend to have active PM traps. Regeneration is achieved by "burning off" the trapped PM. Current systems in operation require exhaust gas temperatures of more than 600 degrees C at the filter inlet to burn off PM.

ArvinMeritor currently offers two solutions within its Clean Air Solutions product portfolio to reduce PM from the exhaust stream and to meet the needs of specific applications:

Passive Regeneration

Passive regeneration is a proven method for regenerating light vehicle and passenger car PM traps in Europe, where operating characteristics are different. For example, European light vehicles are generally driven at higher speeds and with higher loads than U.S. commercial vehicles.

ArvinMeritor's Air and Emissions Technologies operation in Augsburg, Germany, is both a highly experienced technology and market leader in emissions management. It has provided light vehicle emissions solutions in Europe since 1953, and is developing future technologies for light vehicles and passenger cars.

Active Regeneration

Reliable regeneration of passive PM filters in commercial vehicles can be a problem. The exhaust temperature of commercial diesel engines is not generally sufficient to initiate regeneration in the filter. Where diesels are running at higher loads, passive regeneration may be possible, but generally, commercial vehicles' PM filters will need to be actively controlled, particularly when even stricter standards are implemented in 2010.

The company's Thermal Regenerator provides PM filter operation under all driving conditions and duty cycles. Because regeneration is automatically initiated and electronically controlled, vehicle operating effectiveness and peak engine performance are maintained.

In many cases, this is especially true with vehicles that are being operated in urban areas in stop-and-go mode, such as buses and coaches, delivery vans and garbage trucks. This regeneration will be best achieved by thermal regeneration through the application of external heat. In ArvinMeritor's Thermal Regenerator, an electronic control unit continuously monitors exhaust gas temperature, exhaust gas backpressure and other engine operating characteristics, such as engine speed and load. If regeneration is required, it is initiated automatically. The diesel fuel is burned with air in a small combustion chamber to raise gas temperature at the PM Filter to at least 650 degrees C in less than 60 seconds.

NOx Problem, ArvinMeritor Solutions

Small amounts of oxides of nitrogen are formed during combustion, as a result of the combination of nitrogen and oxygen in the presence of high temperatures and pressures. Oxides of nitrogen are collectively referred to as "NOx," where "x" represents a changing proportion of oxygen to nitrogen, and play an important role in the formation of photochemical smog.

ArvinMeritor, with support from the State of Indiana 21st Century Research and Development Fund, has been actively developing NOx trap systems that use a revolutionary new enabling technology called the Plasma Fuel Reformer. The company has also developed Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems to control NOx. Both technologies assist OEMs in reducing NOx levels emitted by diesel-powered commercial vehicles.

Plasma Fuel Reformer Enabled NOx Trap

In the NOx trap, active coatings within the trap adsorb NOx and prevent it from passing into the atmosphere. To maintain its efficiency, however, the trap must be regenerated regularly by the introduction of hydrocarbons or hydrogen to the trap's active reagents. In conventional NOx traps, diesel fuel is introduced as the hydrocarbon source, but this approach has considerable disadvantages. Those disadvantages include the difficulty of successful regeneration at low temperatures, a significant diesel fuel consumption penalty and the possibility of unburnt diesel fuel passing through to the atmosphere, a phenomenon called diesel "slip."

ArvinMeritor has developed a proprietary technology named the Plasma Fuel Reformer that enables the significantly more efficient and effective operation of a NOx trap. (See separate news release, "Breakthrough ArvinMeritor Technology.")

With ArvinMeritor's Plasma Fuel Reformer, a hydrogen-rich gas is generated onboard and on-demand, using the vehicle's diesel fuel as a source, and supplied directly to the NOx trap, as required. According to laboratory and field tests, the hydrogen-rich gas has proven to be an outstandingly efficient regenerator of the trap.

Regeneration occurs (compared to diesel):

* Using, on average, half the diesel fuel (and even less in some conditions)

* Over a much broader temperature range, especially in the low- temperature regime

* Preliminary lab tests show the ability to successfully remove sulfur from the NOx adsorber at temperatures well below 500 degrees C, enabling long life of the catalyst system

The operation is entirely transparent to the operator, fleet maintenance manager and fleet owner, because the Plasma Fuel Reformer can supply hydrogen- rich gas to the NOx trap at any time from any hydrocarbon fuel, including diesel. Unlike SCR systems (see below), there is no need to continually refill a separate tank or develop a urea distribution infrastructure.

ArvinMeritor has utilized its industry-leading engineering and manufacturing expertise to take an innovation pioneered by the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and apply the technology into systems that can be mass-produced. The company has exclusive rights to the use of the technology for the licensed applications from MIT.

Selective Catalytic Reduction System

Selective Catalytic Reduction has been used in the stationary engine market for many years as an effective NOx reduction solution. In an SCR system, a reagent (urea) supplied from a separate tank is measured and mixed into the exhaust stream. It decomposes and forms ammonia that continually facilitates the catalytic reduction of NOx.

In transportation applications, this approach presents several challenges, however. For example, the injection of urea must be measured precisely in proportion to the NOx present in the exhaust at any given time. As the level of NOx varies with engine speed, load and exhaust flow rate, its concentration is extremely transient. In addition, a liquid (urea) other than diesel fuel must be carried onboard and replenished on a regular basis by the vehicle driver or fleet staff.

"This requires another container on the vehicle, as well as urea pumping stations and all the relevant supply infrastructure," said Gosnell. "In Europe, they're comfortable with all of those obstacles to SCR introduction, and it is the chosen solution. It's effective. It's light and compact. And it has the lowest fuel consumption of existing technologies. ArvinMeritor has SCR technology that's equal to any in the world, we have a contract to supply SCR systems to IVECO, as well as to another major European commercial vehicle manufacturer."

SCR compared to the hydrogen-enabled NOx trap

While SCR is proven to work, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has major concerns about SCR's applicability to the U.S. market. Therefore, the EPA is likely to require that on any engine or truck using a SCR system the OEM incorporates a lockout system to prevent the vehicle's operation if the urea system were inoperative or empty. The EPA will also require that the SCR has a urea distribution system to meet market requirements.

"We have a fully developed SCR system, as well as a longer-term hydrogen- enabled NOx trap under aggressive development, so we have options to meet our OEM customer needs whichever direction the North American market goes on the NOx issue," said Gosnell. "We're proud of these products and technologies, as well as of our Thermal Regenerator. Our comprehensive expertise in exhaust emission solutions applied to commercial vehicle applications makes us well positioned to become the leading global supplier of emission control systems."

Hydrocarbon problem, ArvinMeritor solution

ArvinMeritor's Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) is capable of removing up to 90 percent of hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions. It is a proven technology that can be installed as a new or retrofit solution, and it can be packaged within a muffler or as a flow-through design. It is compatible with current sulfur levels.

ArvinMeritor, Inc. is a premier $8-billion global supplier of a broad range of integrated systems, modules and components to the motor vehicle industry. The company serves light vehicle, commercial truck, trailer and specialty original equipment manufacturers and related aftermarkets. Headquartered in Troy, Mich., ArvinMeritor employs approximately 32,000 people at more than 150 manufacturing facilities in 27 countries. ArvinMeritor common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ARM. For more information, visit the company's Web site at: http://www.arvinmeritor.com/ .