SwRI-Led Consortium Launches Second Year of Advanced Emissions Research

December 16, 2015 | By Business Wire News

SAN ANTONIO

The Advanced Combustion Catalyst and Aftertreatment Technologies (AC²AT) consortium, led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), will focus on four research projects in its second year.

The joint-industry program provides a pre-competitive, collaborative approach to evaluating engine emissions and developing tools to improve advanced engine technologies through the application of catalysts.

“In the first year, we’ve made progress in our understanding of the complex nature of emissions from today’s high-performance, high-efficiency gasoline and diesel engines,” said Dr. Cary Henry, a manager in SwRI’s Engine, Emissions, and Vehicle Research Division who leads the AC²AT consortium. “This year we will focus on specific projects to improve aftertreatment and fuel efficiency strategies for these engines.”

Second-year goals include modeling emission control systems that use urea and selective catalytic reduction as well as characterizing the chemistry of emissions from advanced combustion systems. SwRI engineers will evaluate techniques for treating low-temperature exhaust gas emissions and model how ash emissions associated with oil ingestion affect aftertreatment components.

The four-year AC²AT consortium was formed in 2014 with members representing engine manufacturers and affiliated businesses in the automotive industry. Consortium members receive a royalty-free license for patents earned by SwRI engineers during the program. By combining their membership fees, members share substantially more pre-competitive research than would be possible with funding from a single client. New members can enroll for $95,000 per year. The next Program Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting for the consortium is planned for March 1-2, 2016, at SwRI.

For more information or to join the AC²AT consortium, visit ac2at.swri.org or contact Henry at (210) 522-2424 or chenry@swri.org.

About SwRI:

SwRI is an independent, nonprofit, applied research and development organization based in San Antonio, Texas, with nearly 2,800 employees and an annual research volume of $592 million. Southwest Research Institute and SwRI are registered marks in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. For more information about Southwest Research Institute, please visit newsroom.swri.org or www.swri.org.

http://www.swri.org/9what/releases/2015/ac2at-consortium-engine-emissions.htm