General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)’s New Urea-Free Loco to Meet EPA Norms

General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) will unveil a new generation railroad diesel engine on Friday made at a cost of $600 million, that will meet the strict emission standards in the United States, scheduled to take effect from 2015.

GE officials said that the new engine will be meeting the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standards that require a 76 percent reduction in the emission of nitrogen oxide by diesel engines and limiting particle emissions. Nitrogen oxide induces triggers asthmatic attacks.

The new engine called Evolution is expected to keep the company, founded by T.A Edison, ahead of its rival Caterpillar which runs the Electro-Motive diesel trains units. GE officials were confident that the engines would meet the new EPA emission standards.

According to GE they’ve developed the new engines without using urea. Truck maker Navistar had earlier attempted a urea-free engine meant to comply with the strict emission norms but was unable to get approval from the EPA. Last month it abandoned its efforts and said that it would stick to the traditional non-polluting engines made by Cummins.

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"We've spent a lot of time with the EPA as we've gone through this," said Lorenzo Simonelli, CEO of GE's Transportation arm, which makes locomotives. "We're very confident that with our global research centre, with the amount of testing we've done, that we've got a solution that works."

GE's technology works through management of the engine's temperature, which inhibits the production of nitrogen oxide produced by burning diesel fuel while limiting the amount of carbon dioxide produced.