The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Blended After-Treatment System (BATS) is making headway in attempts to reduce emissions on locomotives, now that it has been approved for use by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
BATS is unique in that it uses a process of catalytic reduction to chemically remove diesel engine emission pollutants from trains’ exhaust. It targets nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and particulate matter. This prevents those fumes from entering into the air, where they wreak their damage. Though developed by a California-based company, NCDOT is the first rail agency in the country to demonstrate the technology’s usefulness on in-service passenger locomotives.
“This is another positive step in our ongoing efforts to be a leader in helping reduce air-pollution levels across the state,” Charles Edwards, acting director of the NCDOT Rail Division, said. “This very cost-effective, innovative technology will help ensure that North Carolina is a wonderful place to live and work in every day.”
The agency has been testing the efficacy of BATS for two years now. The recent EPA certification, however, will allow it to apply for state and federal grant opportunities to get the BATS system onto its entire line of locomotives, rather than a single train. They would like to see it implemented along the NCDOT Piedmont Route between Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina, as the EPA currently notes that every county along that route has high levels of one or more types of air pollution.