Studies show that at present as per 2010 figures, diesel engines in India emit a total of 357,959 tonne of pollution. If we were to use diesel engines with lower emissions, then this figure would be reduced to 116,325 tonne. Couple this with the fact that there are over 400,000 diesel powered vehicles being produced every year and 250,000 diesel powered gensets, again as per 2010 figures, this might have gone up to 20 percent and 15 percent, respectively. EQUIPMENT INDIA finds out the dismal details.

The emission standards have been phasing in over a number of years, gradually reducing the legal levels of emissions for various sizes of diesel engines. In the US, these phases are identified as Tier 1 ? Tier 4. In the EU they are identified as Stage I   Stage IV. In Japan, they are identified as MLIT Step 1 MLIT Step 4. In India, we have developed our road map for vehicular emissions in stages following Bharat Stage II (Equivalent to EU II Norm) from 2005 to Bharat Stage IV. Each stage of improvement further reduced NOx and PM emissions by a substantial amount over the earlier stage. Meeting these new emissions levels required changes to the electronics, turbocharging and cooling systems of the engines. Internal combustion engines emit four major types of emissions: oxides of nitrogen (NOx), particulate matter (PM), hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO). The regulatory focus has historically been on NOx and PM. These emissions are often inversely related. If NOx levels are reduced, PM levels generally increase and vice versa. The clean air goals includes  reducing  ozone by controlling NOx and HC, reducing acid rain by controlling NOx and sulphur dioxide, and improving air quality.

In India, the Bharat Stage IV norms are already in effect for automobiles and BS III is now in effect for most other segments except gensets. According to inputs from the Indian Diesel Engine Manufacturers Association (IDEMA), the annual sales by its members of non-road use engines in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010 exceeded 550,000 units, with exports growing at a rapid pace. Says Sudipto Mukherjee General Manager, Marketing, Lombardini India, "The Indian diesel engine industry is estimated to be more than $23 billion, even if we exclude the captive engine manufacturing of automotive companies." Mukherjee adds, "In the near future, we plan to launch CRDI technology-enabled engines for both automotive and non automotive applications in the Indian market, for improvement in fuel economy. Even in the mechanical injection engines presently manufactured in our Indian factory, all our engines are ahead of the emission requirements of the respective application segments."

Speaking about the green initiative Mukherjee says, "Go green is the call of the day, and Kohler strongly believes in this. We are into the development of more eco- friendly and economic engines which emit less of hazardous waste into the environment. We are doing our bit toward the environment, and believe that many organisations are doing their bit, too, by adopting our engines." He further adds, "We have a robust production facility in the heart of India, at Aurangabad, with the capacity to produce over 5,000 engines in a month. There is a steady demand for the application segments we are supplying and with expected pause of increase in interest rates, the situation can improve further. Yes, we are planning some capex; however, details will be disclosed only later."

In 2010, Cooper Corporation, a leading manufacturer of engine components like liners, crankshafts, blocks, heads for decades, produced India's first twin-cylinder, CRDI, Euro IV compliant diesel engine. Says Behram Ardeshir, Managing Director, Rainbow Trading, "Cooper Corporation, as part of their forward integration plans, decided to set up a state-of the art engine manufacturing facility. This is the first Greenfield engine manufacturing facility, other than a small-scale operation, to be set up in decades anywhere in the world.  Ricardo of UK was assigned the task of designing the family of engines. The first engine is India's first twin cylinder CRDI diesel engine. This engine was launched in 2010 and is an engineering marvel as it is compact, fuel efficient, powerful and is a flexi-fuel engine that can run on diesel, CNG or LPG! Farrokh Cooper, Chairman of Cooper Corporation wanted an engine that incor?porated the latest international technology and one that was protected for future legislation as well. Thus, Ricardo designed an engine that was Euro IV compliant and Euro V protected. It was compact and fuel efficient, a world's first, a twin cylinder CRDI engine that ran on diesel and gas and is useable on-road and off-road! To top that, it met with all international legislation both current and future, it was compact and more efficient than most of its competition! Actually, whilst most of the competition in India was counting their pennies and spending just what was needed to keep abreast of changing legislation, Cooper Corporation went the whole hog and produced a veritable engineering marvel. Now this engine has set a benchmark for the others to follow."

One of the challenges faced by the manufacturers of diesel engines today is to develop products that will deliver higher performance, longer life, lower operating costs and at the same time have less of an environmental impact. To comply with these standards, engine manufacturers have invested in the research and development of new, cutting edge technologies aimed at taking diesel emissions levels to near zero. It is heartening to note that JCB has already launched ecoMAX  customised for Indian conditions and emission norms; Mahindra Navistar Engines will introduce 4 cylinder engine to the Indian market for various genset and construction equipment; Cooper has moved up the value chain through a logical diversification in the engine and automotive manufacturing business and has launched a multipurpose, flexi fuel twin-cylinder engine, for which commercial production has already begun.

"EcoMAX is optimised for JCB construction equipment, to offer maximised fuel efficiency," says Vipin Sondhi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, JCB India.  He adds, "Worldwide, over 150,000 JCB machines with JCB engines are proving their worth. The JCB Dieselmax engine which is built in UK is a Tier- IV compliant, state-of-the-art engine which powers JCB UK's world-beating range of construction equipment. The JCB engine ecoMAX has been built on the same lines as the Dieselmax engine. However, the engines are customised for Indian conditions and emission norms. It has the same block, bedplate design and crankshaft dimensions and almost similar valve train. The fuel injection system was modified to suit Indian conditions."
 
JCB's engine ecoMAX is optimised for JCB construction equipment, to offer a package that produces maximised fuel efficiency while enhancing productivity and operating efficiency solutions. JCB respects the environment and designs all its products in a way that helps maximise the green quotient. Four valves per cylinder ensure better mixing of fuel hence better combustion and lower emissions.

Speaking about the design aspects Sondhi says, "The JCB engine ecoMAX is based on the same platform as the JCB Dieselmax, the record- breaking engine that powered the car which holds the world's land speed record. It is also the first engine designed specifically for off-highway applications. A JCB machine working in sub- zero temperatures building roads in Leh might also be called on to work in the searing heat in the deserts in Rajasthan. Plus, there are difficult off-highway fuel conditions to deal with. The usage pattern in India is different from the American or European markets and the engine has been adapted specifically taking in these factors."

Says Pankaj Sonalkar, Managing Director, Mahindra Navistar Engines, "We have already created a niche in the market with our Maxxforce 7.2, 6 cylinder engines in the trucking industry with our tipper and meeting with much success in the market. We have entered in new business areas of supplying engines for power generation, construc?tion equip?ment indu?stry like wheel loader, excavator, concrete pump, etc. We are already working closely with market leaders in construction equip?ment industry and shortly bringing as wider range of engines to the market. High reliability and lower cost of operation are the key differentiators of our product backed by superior engine technology. Our engines also comply with most stringent emission norms that currently prevail, which provides the customer with an opportunity to acquire future-?ready products."

Highlighting production facilities, Sondhi says, "JCB's new engine plant at its Indian headquarters in Ballabgarh takes lean manufacturing to its finest levels. The engines produced by the plant ensure that they have zero defect levels across its lifecycle so that the customer gets maximum equipment uptime on the capital investment made. The manufacturing process of the engines works on the 'no fault forward' production model. In accordance with this, the machine is minutely inspected at its every stage of production encompassing cutting edge technology providing optimum engineering value to the manufactured product. The in-process verification of the engine during the production process includes a range of stringent tests. The engine being assembled is passed to the second stage only after it has qualified all the test parameters at first stage. The entire chain of in-process verification is completely computerised.

The vital element of the assembly plant is its air conditioning. This is in order to maintain high cleanliness levels so as to adhere to BS-III norms. Appropriate air quality would neutralise chance of foreign particles entering into the assembly plant. It's a top-draw facility which produces world class engines."

However, on the flipside, the rising input cost, and lack of a clear-cut road map for clean fuel are major deterrents. Another major challenge is to bring down the technology gap between the organised and unorganised segments. Ironically, while every other sector has been moving towards reducing emissions caused by engines, the genset industry has been largely inactive.

And there was even a move to extend the deadline for introducing the new norms for gensets. Thanks to the tireless efforts from some of the principled manufacturers, the deadline of 1st October 2013 stays effective and not only that, most of the manufacturers have already geared up for these new norms and some of them have already introduced their lower emission diesel engines to the market in a small way.

The unorganised sector neither has the resources nor the technology to develop such engines. Concerted efforts from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi and the Association of Diesel Engine Manufacturers Association (IDEMA), and unorganised segments could dramatically reduce the technology gap, thereby reducing emissions from diesel engines. With this in place, we could look forward to a cleaner and greener industry.

One of the challenges faced by the manufacturers of diesel engines today is to develop products that will deliver higher performance, longer life, lower operating costs and at the same time have less of an environmental impact.

Concerted efforts from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi and the Association of Diesel Engine Manufacturers Association (IDEMA), and unorganised segments could dramatically reduce the technology gap.