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MACHINE FILTERS: many countries around the globe will soon require complex filters on diesel engines. How long before the GCC follow suit?

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Pakistan, India and Bangladesh CNG are used in the majority of private cars, while cities such as New Delhi and Ahmedabad also use it to power all their public transport.

The Pakistani province of Punjab has gone so far as to convert the entire fleet of several thousand auto-rickshaws.

Hong Kong has gone one step further and declared it illegal to operate a non-converted diesel taxi.

ENOC has announced that it is to start production of CNG in Feburary, and a number of Dubai's traditional abras have already been converted.

Although measures to cut toxins from plant vehicles have been around for nearly thirty years, it has only been in the last decade that serious attempts have been made to cut smog and different countries, different guides.

However, the US and Europe now have similar standards which most other countries are now in the process of adopting.

The US was the first country to clean up oil-burners with the introduction of Tier 1-3 standards, beginning in 1994. Engines complying with these standards had their soot emissions slashed, but the gases weren't tested for sulfur content.

However, the new Tier 4 requirement being phased in now, demands that particle matter, sulfur and nitrogen oxide be cut by a massive 90 per cent.

This is only possible with USLD and exhaust gas after treatment.

New York has become the first city to introduce rules specifically directed at construction machines, with legislation slashing emissions from around 3,400 ppm to just 15 ppm.

Laws in the EU meant that all new engines, whether on or off-road had to meet a phased set of rules known as Euro Standards.

The most recent, Euro IV applies to anything with a diesel engine, but different standards are set for large commercial vehicles and plant machinery.

In certain areas such as the London Low Emission Zone vehicles that don't meet at least the Euro-3 standard are banned.

This is causing a major headache for site managers trying to get machines to work on the Olympic 2012 site as plant hire companies are reluctant to invest in new equipment until the exact standards are agreed upon.

Whatever the exact requirement of Euro IV is though, there are many countries outside the EU that will adopt it anyway, which in turn will put pressure on countries inside the GCC to clean up their act.

Fortunately it is possible to run an old diesel on ULSD and bring down emissions.

One of the quickest ways of upgrading an older engine to run the clean juice is to fit a particulate filter. There are several types, the most common being the Wall Filter.

This works by using cordierite, a substance commonly found in catalytic converters, to filter the debris out.

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