From 6 to 9 June 2023, with the support of the Climate and Clean Air in Latin American Cities Plus Programme (CALAC+); the Ministries of Environment of Chile, Colombia, and the Environmental Authority of Bogotá, carried out the First Session of evaluation of particulate matter counters in Euro VI vehicles, evaluating six different technologies.
“With the support of the Ministries of Environment of Colombia and Chile, and in the framework of the Swiss cooperation project CALAC+, we carried out a comparison of sixparticle counters, which were provided by the correspondent manufacturers. What we are looking for is to compare these technologies that should be used to measure the emissions of the most modern vehicles circulating in the country, particularly Euro VI diesel or natural gas vehicles, or even Euro V vehicles that have a particulate filter installed,” said the deputy director of Air, Auditory and Visual Quality of the Ministry of Environment, Hugo Saenz.
The event had the support and participation of seven manufacturers: TEXA, 3DATX Corporation, TSI Incorporated, CAPELEC, PUS, AVL DiTEST, and Dekati Ltd. Together with specialists from the Ministries of Environment of Colombia and Chile, the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Cundinamarca, the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies of Colombia (Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales de Colombia); the CALAC+ programme, the National Association of Entrepreneurs of Colombia (Asociación Nacional de Empresarios de Colombia), GM Motors, SOFASA (Renault vehicles assembling company), HINO (Japanese truck manufacturer), ECOPETROL (Columbian petroleum company), and the Universities of Antioquia and Nacional, putting different knowledge and technologies to work, carried out comparative measurements of vehicles running on Euro VI diesel, in order to establish which devices are suitable for emission control, their operability and calibration for proper verification.
“We are going to compare these devices to understand their performance, versatility, accuracy, repeatability, and to see how the different particle counting technologies perform in Bogotá. There already are Euro VI vehicles circulating in the city. The appropriate technology to measure their emissions is particle counting. With this, Bogotá gains experience,” added Deputy Director Sáenz.
The execution of these measurements will allow the environmental authorities from the countries participating in the session to exchange and share concepts and knowledge, to finally identify the performance of each of the equipment, as well as the requirements for an adequate operation of this new equipment by the operating personnel.
Nancy Manríquez, from the Chilean Ministry of the Environment, said, “This activity is very important for us, because we will be able to modify the standard that we currently have in Chile, which is an opacity standard in the case of diesel vehicle control, an obsolete standard regarding current needs with the new control technologies that we have in Chile. Our entire fleet will be Euro VI, and, as for diesel vehicles, with afterburner devices, such as particulate filters. This is a pioneering activity, this analysis is very important. The idea is a co-work done by Colombia and Chile to unify criteria regarding equipment, and what the most appropriate method would be,” she concluded.
Source: Secretaría de Ambiente de Bogotá (Secretariat of Environment of Bogotá)
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“A contar partículas (Let`s count particulates)”, Hugo Enrique Sáenz Pulido, subdirector de Calidad del Aire en Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente de Bogotá (Deputy Director of Air Quality of the Ministry of Environment District Secretary) (read online)
The Climate and Clean Air in Latin American Cities Plus Programme (CALAC+) is an initiative funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), which is implemented in Santiago de Chile, Bogotá, Lima and Mexico City. The current phase of CALAC+ focuses on three main points: cleaner urban transport, improvement of urban policies for off-road machinery, and regional and global cooperation, including electromobility, hydrogen buses, Euro VI regulations, support for the implementation of DPF filters in machinery of th Department of Public Works (MOP), and training, among others.
