When Adblue froze in Brussels: MEPs showed why the north pays a heavy price

Liquids related to exhaust aftertreatment systems were frozen in the EU Parliament on Tuesday evening. The demonstration was intended to show the commission’s officials responsible for emission regulation that Adblue, the exhaust gas aftertreatment fluid favored by current legislation, cannot withstand the conditions in the north.

Adblue is an additive made of urea and water used in diesel vehicles, which helps reduce exhaust gas emissions. It is sprayed into the exhaust gas and acts as a reagent to reduce nitrogen oxides in the exhaust gas.

The EU’s current vehicle and emission regulation relies on the use of Adblue. The problem is that it freezes at -11 degrees Celsius.

“The EU’s current vehicle and emissions regulation fails in the north because it does not recognize arctic conditions,” says the member of the left-wing coalition Merja Kyllönen.

According to Kyllönen, the reason that car manufacturers standardize German Adblue for their cars is that, in the eyes of the German car industry, the north is a marginal region on a European scale.

The Commission, on the other hand, has become accustomed to the fact that the market will take care of the problem.

“The market is not interested in the small northern area,” says Kyllönen.

According to the Member of Parliament of the Left Alliance, the Finns have been too kind in the monitoring of interests.

“We don’t act like the French farmers who burn a tire and throw crap at the wall of the commission, so that their message gets through,” describes Kyllönen.

Entrepreneurs as payers

Entrepreneurs and transport chains in the north are the ones paying for the regulation, which is not suitable for Finland’s conditions. Lapland’s most important livelihoods are tourism and the forestry and mining industry, where heavy traffic plays a significant role.

For example, this winter’s severe frost has damaged vehicles and forced them out of use at mines and construction sites, raising costs for entrepreneurs.

“That affects the competitiveness of the entire region,” says Kyllönen.

“The failure of one heavy vehicle or machine can cost more than 10,000 euros, when repairs, downtime and production losses are taken into account. When malfunctions are repeated throughout the winter season, the effects spread to the entire logistics chain,” says INFRA ry’s CEO Paavo Syrjö.

Freeze test revealed

At the Northern Corridors Under Pressure event held in the EU Parliament on Tuesday, the transport challenges of Arctic Finland were presented to Commission officials.

The meeting was organized by MEPs Kyllönen and Katri Kulmuni (central) in cooperation with the interest monitoring organization FinMobility, SKAL ry, MTK and INFRA ry and Linja-autoliitoto.

At the event, urea solutions manufactured by German Adblue and Finnish Kemion Oy were compared.

When the liquids were taken out of the -15 degree freezer brought to the parliament, the Adblue was frozen. Instead, the urea solution produced by Kemion Oy remained liquid, because its freezing point is around -30 °C.

According to Kyllönen, the problem with introducing Kemion is that the new solution produced by the company has not yet passed the standardization processes of the EU vehicle industry. It is a prerequisite, for example, for maintaining vehicle warranties.

Legislation needs to be changed

Finnish MPs and advocacy organizations hope that vehicle and emissions regulation could be made more flexible so that it would also work in arctic conditions.

“The EU regulations regarding emission reduction systems must be changed,” says the head of SKAL’s expert services Petri Murto.

Adblue’s freezing demonstration drew commission officials preparing the legislation seriously.

The head of the unit of the EU’s Directorate-General for Industrial and Internal Market Policy (DG Crow) was present Mark Niklas agreed that the Commission needs to look at the situation in connection with the new Euro 7 exhaust emission standard.

According to Kyllönen, exceptions are also needed for the older emission standards, because the equipment operating under them is used a lot in the north.

“We need to find some exceptional procedure so that this other frost-resistant reagent can be used in severe frosts, so that it would not be considered illegal and entrepreneurs would not be punished. The Euro 7 standard also needs a record stating that it is legal to use a more frost-resistant reagent,” says Kyllönen.

According to him, there will be a discussion between the commission and the vehicle industry about the technical resolution of the matter.