LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Detroit Diesel has announced it will adopt Daimler’s BlueTec Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology to meet EPA2010 emissions standards in North America.

BlueTec was developed by Daimler and is widely used in Europe, company officials announced at the Mid-America Trucking Show. Detroit Diesel’s DD15 engine, and its future family of engines, will all use the technology.

“I’m happy to announce that we’ll be utilizing BlueTec technology for our Detroit Diesel engines beginning in 2010,” said Chris Patterson, president and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America. “The technology is clearly the best choice for our customers. BlueTec is the only means of meeting the stringent 0.2 g/kwh NOx standard for heavy-duty diesel engines, in 2010 while actually reducing diesel fuel consumption in comparison with the technology used in 2007 engines.”

With BlueTec, Detroit Diesel engineers are confident they can improve fuel economy by 3-5% compared to EPA07 engines. BlueTec utilizes urea, which along with the heat of the exhaust and a catalyst, converts NOx emissions into harmless nitrogen and water vapour.

Detroit Diesel officials said urea will only need to be refilled once every 5,000-6,000 miles and it will typically be housed in a 20-gallon tank. During Daimler’s press conference, officials took aim at several points of contention involving the use of SCR in 2010. A full report will be available soon on trucknews.com as well as in the May issues of Truck News and Truck West.