By Dr. Andrew Pedlow, Principal Engineer, CATAGEN
A generator sales report published by Acumen Research and Consulting forecasts that the global market will grow from USD 27.6 billion in 2022 to approximately USD 51.7 billion by 2032, representing a compound annual growth rate of 6.6% between 2023 and 2032.
The report identifies several factors supporting the continued growth of the sector, including demand for uninterrupted power, growth in construction and infrastructure, increasing demand for portable generators and advances in battery technology.
However, generators must meet the regulatory requirements that apply in their intended market and application. These can include EU Stage V requirements for applicable non-road mobile machinery, US EPA requirements and separate regulations for stationary generating plant.
Growing Interest in Alternative-Fuel GENSETs
According to the report’s 2022 base-year data, diesel generators accounted for approximately 69% of the generator sales market. However, interest in gas and alternative-fuel generators continues to grow.
Hydrogen-powered generators and fuels such as compressed natural gas, biomethane, ammonia and methanol could allow the industry to retain important benefits of conventional GENSETs, including rapid response and availability in remote locations, while supporting lower-carbon power-generation strategies.
However, using a lower-carbon fuel does not automatically remove the emissions challenge. The environmental and emissions performance of each option will depend on factors including fuel production, engine design, calibration, duty cycle and aftertreatment architecture.
New Fuels Create New Aftertreatment Challenges
A key challenge associated with alternative-fuel generators is understanding their effect on engine-out emissions and the aftertreatment system.
For many manufacturers, diesel generators have historically been the predominant technology. Their experience with emissions-control systems has therefore focused largely on diesel exhaust aftertreatment systems.
Introducing fuels such as CNG or biomethane requires more than developing new engine settings and calibrations. The aftertreatment system may experience different exhaust compositions, temperature profiles, catalyst-ageing mechanisms and performance deterioration throughout its useful life.
These considerations become particularly important for GENSETs used for extended periods, load management or peak shaving.
Applicable useful-life requirements also vary according to the engine and regulatory programme. For example, current US EPA requirements specify a useful life of 8,000 operating hours or ten years, whichever comes first, for applicable non-road compression-ignition engines rated at 37 kW or above. This should not be treated as a universal requirement for every GENSET application.
Understanding Hydrogen Aftertreatment Durability
Hydrogen-powered generators introduce their own development challenges. These include establishing suitable engine-calibration strategies, understanding engine-out emissions and evaluating how the aftertreatment system performs over its intended service life.
There is also a need for more long-term data on catalyst durability, chemical poisoning and performance degradation under representative hydrogen-combustion conditions.
Although hydrogen combustion does not produce carbon dioxide at the point of use, it can still produce nitrogen oxides. The complete engine and aftertreatment system must therefore be considered when evaluating emissions performance.
Producing Representative Aged Catalysts
Addressing these challenges is critical to the future of the GENSET industry, particularly as manufacturers seek to understand emissions performance throughout the system’s useful life.
CATAGEN has extensive experience in diesel exhaust-aftertreatment ageing, gasoline catalyst ageing and three-way catalyst testing.
Working across multiple industries, CATAGEN can support manufacturers in understanding catalyst-performance deterioration and developing methods to produce representative aged components. For applicable programmes, this can include ageing designed to represent up to 8,000 hours of engine operation.
This approach can help engineering teams investigate alternative-fuel aftertreatment durability while reducing their reliance on lengthy engine-based ageing programmes.
Are you developing or validating an alternative-fuel GENSET?
Speak with the CATAGEN team about your catalyst-ageing and aftertreatment-testing requirements.
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