SM Eberspächer pushes SCR tech

SM Eberspächer Exhaust, an equal JV between SM Auto Engineering of Pune and Eberspächer of Germany, has drawn up its growth trajectory in India, piggybacking on advanced technologies for exhaust aftertreatment to cut vehicle emissions.

While Eberspächer provides the latest converter canning technologies for Euro 6 emission norms in Europe and Environmental Protection Agency 10 project norms in USA, India is yet to transition in entirety to BS IV emission norms. These have so far been enforced in 13 cities from April 2010 with the next 50 cities to follow suit. Enforcement of norms beyond that level will depend on the availability of the new grade fuel.

In line with the changing emission norms, rules for Euro 5 exhaust aftertreatment of gases necessitate canning which means that the exhaust system that consists of the catalytic converter, pipes and muffler will perform the actual chemical conversion from exhaust gas to pure gas. The canning procedure further eliminates harmful gases according to vehicle requirements in terms of back pressure, temperature, packaging space, emission norms and noise and these are taken care of by SM Eberspächer.

The component maker visualises that the Indian market will provide a big potential for growth in the next two to three years as the entire country moves to the next level of fuel.

In readiness with this forthcoming change, SM Eberspächer has set up an engineering centre along with a manufacturing facility for exhaust aftertreatment at Chakan, Pune. The engineering centre undertakes design and development activities locally. While simulation and designing is undertaken in India, testing is undertaken in Germany.

At present, its customers include Tata Motors, Force Motors, MAN Force, GM and Volvo Eicher. Discussions with other OEs for BS IV platforms are underway. The part maker has already developed two systems for Euro 5 for European customers locally. In India it is targeting the SUV, passenger car and commercial vehicle segments.

Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR), the new canning technology in use globally, is expected to find much potential in diesel engines in India and SM Eberspächer is targeting the CV segment in a big way. At present, the popular technology in use for exhaust system aftertreatment in India is Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) that cleans one exhaust gas component. In comparison, SCR cleans up all components of exhaust gases.

Simply put, the SCR technology converts nitrogen oxides or NOx into diatomic nitrogen and water with the aid of the catalyst ammonia. Carbon dioxide, CO2, is a reaction product when urea is used as the reductant.

S Chandrashekar, director operations, feels that as India progresses on the emission norm roadmap from BS III to BS IV emission norms across the country and beyond to Euro 5 and Euro 6 subsequently, more stringent norms will be enforced for eliminating some genre of gases in fuels. SCR technology would be better equipped to address these gases and would also enable catalytic converters to be scalable without incurring much additional expense. Meanwhile, toeing the line of OEMs, SM Eberspächer is seeking government clarity on its fuel policy to chalk out its future India roadmap. It feels its growth in the country will be linked to evolving emission norms and the readiness of oil refineries to supply the upgraded fuel pan India. The company is in talks with a number of OEs for its new technologies that could involve the setting up of a new plant.

“We plan to expand in the south at Chennai where our customers are located. SCR has a gestation period of around two years,” says Chandrashekar, explaining that it takes time to industrialise the design.

SM Eberspächer is scouting for around six acres of land in the automotive belt of Sriperumbudur-Oragadam and Marai Malainagar in Chennai, where Hyundai, Renault Nissan and Ford are located. New OE projects are expected to kick off by 2014-15 as emission norms tighten further, but production at SM Eberspächer’s new plant will go on stream earlier once OE projects are finalised by the year end.

With the new orders, the Rs 30 crore company is targeting a CAGR of 15 percent. Though Eberspächer’s partnership with SM Auto is about 10 years old, it had never really taken off being project based. After the formal JV was inked in 2008, a manufacturing footprint was established for the first time. Earlier production was undertaken at SM Auto’s premises.

SHOBHA MATHUR