Scania gets grant to develop biofuel engine

Sweden’s Scania, a global manufacturer of commercial vehicles, said it has been granted SEK30 million (US$4.48 million) by Sweden’s Strategic Vehicle Research and Innovation Initiative to develop a biofuel engine for heavy commercial vehicles. Scania will collaborate with combustion and emission technology experts at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Lund University and Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. The focus will be on developing an engine using sustainable biofuels that combine the high energy efficiency of diesel (compression ignition) technology with the more efficient exhaust aftertreatment system of Otto (spark ignition) technology. The project is part of a bilateral arrangement between Sweden and Brazil, in which Scania has been engaged for some time in environmental collaboration with Vale Solucoes em Energia S.A. on the further development of ethanol and gas-fueled industrial engines. (October 4, 2010)