Rebekah A. Hall

Peoria, Ill. -- Caterpillar Inc. has announced that it will meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA), Washington, D.C., 2007 emission standards without using Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology.

With SCR, ammonia-based urea compound is injected into the exhaust to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in diesel engines. However, it requires an extra infrastructure within engines in order to add the fluid to vehicles. Some believe that SCR technology adds an extra layer of complexity to engine manufacturing and poses troublesome environmental questions.

The EPA has required that diesel engine manufactures commit to an emissions reduction technology before the 2007 production cycle. "We can meet the EPA’s 2007 regulation and customer needs without SCR," Richard Thompson, Caterpillar group president told news sources.