Development of a DME (dimethyl ether) fueled heavy-duty engine with lean NOx trap

In recent years, attention has focused on smokeless, sulfur-free dimethyl ethyl (DME) as a clean fuel for heavy-duty diesel vehicles. As a part of its Next-Generation Environmentally Friendly Vehicles Project (EFV21), the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has developed a heavy-duty truck in the 20-ton class that uses DME as its fuel. A lean NOx trap system (NSR Type: NOx Storage Reduction) has also been developed to achieve the EFV21 NOx target of 0.5 g/kWh, which is only one-fourth of the new long-term regulation value promulgated in 2005 Japan. The optimization of the NSR system's rich spike control, catalyst capacity, etc., has reduced NOx to 0.11 g/kWh, a level that is close to zero.