January 5, 2007—The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has selected 12 new proposals to receive this year’s Innovative Clean Air Technology (ICAT) awards. The $2.6 million, the largest yearly amount ever dispersed through ICAT, will help transition these projects from theory to working models that will illustrate their commercial potential.
Of the 104 pre-proposals originally submitted for consideration, 12 projects were selected: two projects to measure particulate matter (PM) emissions from diesel engines; two projects for marine emissions control technologies; three motor vehicle diesel engine emissions technologies; two non-diesel on-road vehicle technologies; and three stationary source technologies.
Since the ICAT awards began in 1994, 44 projects have been approved, says the ARB. Forty-one of the funded projects have been technologies to reduce emissions from mobile, area, and stationary sources of air pollution. Three projects are for novel or improved instruments to measure fine particulate matter at low cost.
Twenty-seven of the projects have been completed, and nine of the ICAT technologies have been commercialized, according to ARB. The organization notes that two of the more successful projects include a diesel particulate filter that is regenerated while the vehicle is not in use, and a fleet of electric-powered tractors used to transport baggage to commercial airliners. The Elk Grove School District in Sacramento County has reportedly installed 49 of the diesel particulate filters in its school buses, and Southwest Airlines is using the electric-powered tractors at Sacramento International Airport.
For more information, see the ICAT Web site.
