ORNL engineer Johney Green says with new federal air quality standards starting to take effect this year, his group is working with truck manufactures to improve the emissions numbers.
"The primary pollutants of concern are soot and nitrogen oxide emissions," Green says. "Each manufacturer has their own strategy, but in general what is being done is the use of advanced combustion modes and processes to reduce pollutants before they go to the after-treatment devices and the addition of a diesel particulate filter to reduce and minimize soot and smoke emissions from the vehicle."
Green says people need goods and those goods are usually transported by trucks.
"Trucks carry a lot of our freight and goods across the country," Green says. "The more clean and efficient we can make them, the more robust our nation and economy can be."
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.