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The manufacturer of large-bore diesel engines and turbomachinery, MAN Diesel & Turbo SE, has this week hosted a topping out ceremony for a new emissions test centre at the headquarters in Augsburg, Germany.

The test facility, which goes by the name of 'CentAur', will be used to test measures aimed at reducing emissions from marine and power generation engines. Above all, the investment of around one million euros is being made in the service of optimization and further development of environmental technologies.

The test centre is due to officially open for business in March 2011. Around 100 tonnes of steel have been used to construct the centre, which has taken a year to plan and build. CentAur - short for Clean Exhaust Test Centre in Augsburg - has been built largely by local businesses, including two firms of engineering consultants from Augsburg and specialist companies from Bobingen, Schrobenhausen and Ismaning.

Dr Hans-O. Jeske, Chief Technology Officer on the Executive Board of MAN Diesel& Turbo, stressed the importance of the test centre for the Augsburg site. "With CentAur we are safeguarding jobs, as in future we will not only be developing engines, but also offering the emissions reduction systems to go with them. We want to reinforce our position on the market as a system supplier and so will be investing more heavily in research and development in the next few years."

All MAN Diesel & Turbo's engines already meet current emissions standards, but the limits will be made even tougher in the future. IMO Tier III, the next stage of the emissions limits set by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for shipping worldwide, will come into force in 2016. This means that nitrogen oxide emissions in coastal waters will have to be reduced by 80 per cent compared with 2010 levels.

With a view to meeting future challenges, the new CentAur facility will be used to test various emissions reduction options, including catalyst technology, exhaust gas recycling and particle filtration.

To this end two engines will be connected to the equipment and subjected to various tests while running. The results will be sent straight back to the R&D department and turned into optimized technologies.