Heavy-duty off-road diesel construction equipment often has a useful life measured in decades as opposed to years. The diesel engine is rebuilt several times during the equipment's operational life. A cost-effective strategy for reducing emissions of NOx and diesel particulate matter is the re-powering of heavy-duty off-road diesel construction equipment in lieu of engine rebuilding. Older, high-emitting mechanical diesel engines are replaced with new, lower-emitting diesel engines that are electronically controlled. The new engines not only offer significantly lower emissions, they also offer higher fuel efficiency, which translates into lower overall operations costs.
MSRC Clean Transportation Funding was used to offset a portion of the cost of purchasing the new diesel engine. The MSRC contribution was $97,273 per scraper; this was matched with a co-funding contribution by Camarillo Engineering in the amount of $24,725 per scraper.
Quinn Company, an authorized Caterpillar retailer, was contracted to perform the re-power of the twelve Caterpillar 651B scrapers. Re-power work commenced in September 2005.
Camarillo Engineering, a construction firm that operates heavy-duty diesel equipment, was awarded MSRC Clean Transportation Funding to partially offset the cost of re-powering twelve (12) Caterpillar 651B diesel scrapers with new, Tier II diesel engines. The original unregulated diesel engines were 1970's vintage and produced on the order of 13 g/bhp-hr NOx; the new engines emit 4.1 g/bhp-hr, a reduction of approximately 9 g/bhp-hr.
The re-powering of exising off-road diesel construction equipment with new, lower-emitting diesel engines is applicable to most operators of heavy-duty off-road equipment in the South Coast AQMD. Off-road equipment repowering is also a very cost-effective strategy for reducing NOx (ozone precursor) and particulate matter (toxic air contaminant) emissions.
Camarillo Engineering reports that the re-powered scrapers not only benefit the enviroment by reducing ozone precursor and toxic air contaminant emissions, but also benefit the company's grading operations. The new scraper engines, in addition to being lower emitting, have higher power and torque ratings and are more fuel efficient. The new engines have also been very reliable and the company is experiencing less down time due to unplanned maintenance.
Camarillo also reports that the new scraper engines operate 10-15 degrees cooler in hot weather conditions.
All twelve scraper re-powers have been completed and are operating in revenue service. The final re-power was completed as of August 23, 2006.