Hiroshima, Japan-Mazda Motor Corp. announced on March 16 that it has developed a smaller urea selective catalytic reduction system that curbs nitrous oxide emissions, and will become the first Japanese automaker to use the system in passenger cars. Mazda said it will install the SCR system in some of its CX-7 sport utility vehicles, slated for launch in Europe as early as July. The SCR system sprays liquid urea directly onto exhaust gas, triggering a chemical reaction that decomposes nitrous oxides, Mazda said. In a related development, Colonial Chemical Co., Terra Environmental Technologies, and Yara have been awarded licenses by the American Petroleum Institute (API) under its new Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) Certification Program. Colonial Chemical, based in New Jersey, was the first to be awarded the license, which recognizes that the certified company meets the strict ISO quality standards for DEF. The API subsequently awarded licenses to Terra Environmental Technologies for its TerraCair Ultrapure® DEF (GM March 16, p. 11), and most recently to Yara. The new API license scheme has been designed to assure high quality of DEF sold in the U.S market.
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