BASF has inaugurated its €150 million ($203 million) production plant for mobile emissions catalysts — the company’s largest emissions catalysts plant in Europe — in Sroda Slaska, a Special Economic Zone near Wroclaw, Poland.
The emissions catalysts produced in Sroda Slaska will be used by manufacturers of light duty gasoline vehicles and light and heavy duty diesel vehicles to meet more stringent Euro 6/VI emissions regulations.
Euro 6 legislation will be implemented this year. This legislation requires a significant decrease of NOx emissions to less than 80 mg/km when evaluated under the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC).
Construction of the new 40,000 square meter manufacturing facility began production trials in April, and last month started up two emissions catalysts manufacturing lines.
All 10 planned light duty and heavy duty catalysts production lines are slated to be operating at full capacity by 2016.
Strict emissions regulations “will be a key growth driver for our business,” says Kenneth Lane, president of BASF’s Catalysts division.
Among the advanced technologies that will be produced at the Sroda Slaska facility are Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems, SCR on Filter (SCRoF) systems as well as PremAir-branded ozone destruction catalysts for automotive applications.
In May, BASF introduced its LNT+CS4F emissions control system for diesel engines. The new system combines the features of a Lean NOx Trap (LNT) and a multifunctional catalyzed soot filter (CS4F). It can remove particulate matter, as well as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides from diesel-engine exhaust.
