AdBlue

AdBlue
Owner / user	215 licensees (as of July 2020)
owner	Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA)
Introductory year	2009
Products	Exhaust aftertreatment
Markets	Worldwide
Website	VDA (German)

A car manufacturer uses the brand on a tank filler neck.

Royalty-free product Diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) from the North American market

AdBlue is a worldwide registered trademark of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) . It can be licensed by companies that want to use it for products and services related to exhaust gas aftertreatment for diesel engines by means of selective catalytic reduction (SCR). Exhaust aftertreatment in this form enables the nitrogen oxides (NO _x ) emitted to be reduced by up to 90 percent. The u. a. The necessary aqueous urea solution is standardized in ISO 22241 as AUS 32 .

For the technical functionality of the exhaust gas aftertreatment, see SCR for diesel engines

License terms

The brand owner himself describes his own award guidelines as follows:

“AdBlue® is a registered trademark of the VDA (Association of the Automotive Industry) and is made available under license primarily by vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and companies in the chemical industry and the mineral oil industry. The AdBlue® brand is u. a. Applicable to motor vehicles, motor vehicle parts, in operating instructions for motor vehicles and for urea AUS 32. "

- Association of the automotive industry :

The current license conditions can be requested from the owner. For the introduction in 2009, the license and certification costs were given as an example for a manufacturer of the urea solution.

The ISO norm on which the brand is based standardizes and names the aqueous solution internationally as AUS 32 for aqueous urea solution . The standard also describes the necessary test and quality assurance procedures , as well as storage and logistics requirements. The association only licenses the brand in connection with extensive auditing measures that are borne by the respective licensee.

Licensee

The brand is licensed worldwide by many industrial companies that use it for naming and qualifying the urea solution. The number of licensees grew from 124 in October 2014 to 177 in May 2018.

Specifications

AdBlue consists of a mixture of demineralized water and approx. 32% urea.
The liquid has the following physical properties:

property	value	unit
Urea content	31.8-33.2	Wt%
Start of crystallization	−11.5	° C
Refractive index	1.3817-1.3843	-
Thermal conductivity	0.57	W / (m K)
Specific heat capacity	3.51	J / (g K)
Enthalpy of fusion	270	J / g
Density at 20 ° C	1.087-1.093	g / cm³
Dynamic viscosity	1.4	mPa · s

Manufacturing process

Urea (CH ₄ N ₂ O) is produced on an industrial scale in the chemical industry from ammonia (NH ₃ ) and carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ). Ammonia is produced with electricity (85 to 160 kWh per t) from nitrogen (N2) and hydrogen (H2) using methane (CH4).

consumption

Depending on the NO _x concentration and the condition of the engine, Adblue is introduced to reduce it to nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water. The consumption of AdBlue is around 4% to 6% of the fuel consumption or, in the case of cars, up to 8.5 liters per 1000 kilometers. This consumption differs significantly among the different cars. In a cartel , Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW had agreed on the size of the tanks for the urea solution, which meant that exhaust gas cleaning was only possible in a compromised manner. This was initially 8 to 25 liters. In the case of vehicles without a tank nozzle for the urea solution, which are refilled during the inspection, the amount is not sufficient to manage without additional refilling between the service interval. Daimler and VW had reported themselves and were hoping for the leniency program.