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The newly established Bulgarian Association of Manufacturers and Importers of AdBlue (BAMIA) will work to establish and enforce rules to ensure that only quality additives necessary for the operation of SCR catalytic converters on diesel engines are available on the Bulgarian market.
The founders of BAPVA are its Chairman Krasimira Hristova, Managing Director and Partner at Tsaki Ltd, Tsvetomir Anastasov, CEO of Prista Oil Holding EAD (on the right in the photo) and Ivan Popchev, Deputy Managing Director of Prista Oil Holding EAD (on the right in the photo). (left on the picture). The three companies are long-established producers with a strong reputation, which also operate on external markets. They have contractual relations with serious business partners, work according to the rules and wish to continue to produce a quality product such as AdBlue.
Membership of the association is free. New members of the association agree to distribute and sell a product ("Aqueous Urea/AUS 32 Solution" or AdBlue) that fully meets the quality requirements. And if any member violates this principle, they are to be expelled.
AdBlue
AdBlue is a trademark of "Aqueous Urea/AUS 32 Solution" which is used to reduce NOx emissions from diesel engines through Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems. AUS 32 is available worldwide under various brand names - AdBlue®, ARLA 32®, DEF, etc. In our country, AdBlue has gained citizenship as a collective name for all varieties of AUS 32, but only companies licensed by the brand owner VDA (German Automobile Manufacturers Association) are allowed to use the trademark AdBlue®, guaranteeing high product quality. For all other products AUS 32 or "Aqueous Urea Solution" should be used.
Only a urea solution with precisely defined parameters ensures reliable and stable SCR operation. Licensed or sub-licensed companies are required to manufacture and supply product meeting all ISO 22241 quality requirements. The ISO 22241 series of standards provides the quality requirements, test methods, sampling, operation, transportation and storage of AUS 32. These standards also define the requirements for the reloading interface, materials compatible with AUS 32, etc.
Aims and objectives of BAPVA
According to the association, the issue of product quality control has not been resolved in the country and beyond. As a result of last year's raw material crisis in the industry, some producers, including in other countries, have continued to work with whatever they can find, including urea for agricultural applications. In this country, there is no institution that legally controls quality, as there is with fuels, even though a poor quality aqueous urea solution compromises emission neutralisation even when the fuels meet all requirements. Our market is flooded with products, even from licensees, that do not meet the technical requirements.
Problems with products sold illegally, such as AdBlue, are usually resolved with VDA intervention. The serious problem is with products advertised as "Aqueous Urea Solution" which do not meet the quality requirements of ISO 22241 Part 1 and are therefore unsuitable for use with SCR technology.
Which Bulgarian institutions and how to actually protect users from products (e.g. aqueous urea solution for agricultural applications) that are harmful for diesel vehicles and are sold without quality guarantee, without right of complaint, etc. is a question that BAPVA will seek to answer. The lack of regulated controls allows products that do not comply with AUS 32 requirements to be marketed as an AUS 32 agent. End customers are also the victims of this, with catalysts experiencing performance issues leading to disruption to carriers' schedules, downtime and emergency repairs.
According to Ms Hristova, "water solutions" need to be controlled as fuels are. The idea of the founders is for BAPVA to champion quality in the overall supply of AdBlue and AUS 32, and to also become a sought-after customer guarantor of product quality.