WAUKESHA, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dresser Waukesha, a leading manufacturer of natural gas engines that deliver clean, cost-effective power, has met the engine efficiency goal of 47% BTE established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for Phase II of the ARES (Advanced Reciprocating Engine Systems) program.

Dresser Waukesha achieved this efficiency level with a simple cycle 1200 rpm APG1000 lean burn demonstration engine without exhaust energy recovery, according to Jim Zurlo, Ph.D., who is Dresser Waukesha’s ARES principal investigator. (BTE, or brake thermal efficiency, is a technical measure of an engine’s ability to convert the energy in the fuel to mechanical work.) Zurlo pointed out that improving engine efficiency not only supports green initiatives by reducing fuel consumption, it also reduces fuel expense, which is the largest cost of engine ownership.

“Achieving this efficiency level was the result of some really good engineering, not unusual or exotic approaches,” Zurlo said. “We went through the whole engine and improved almost every subsystem in it. Now we are evaluating ways to integrate these technologies into production components that will improve the efficiencies of all of the models in our APG engine family. We believe there are also some secondary benefits that will be universally applicable to almost any type of reciprocating engine.

“This type of analysis and improvement is an incredibly long process that is difficult for most companies to underwrite on their own,” he said. “Dresser Waukesha has benefitted significantly from the grants we have received through the ARES program, which supplemented our own multi-million dollar investment in these efforts.”

The announcement comes as Dresser Waukesha is wrapping up its ARES Phase II activities and looking ahead to Phase III, in which participants will focus on developing an engine system with a 50% BTE. The ARES program was launched by the DOE in 2001 as a private industry-government partnership to accelerate the development of large natural gas engines that operate with increased efficiency while meeting tight emissions requirements, maintaining current levels of reliability and durability, and reducing ownership costs.

The APG1000 was originally developed by Dresser Waukesha in Phase I of the ARES program, for which Waukesha had a goal of developing an engine with 42% BTE. Production models of the APG1000 are today among the most efficient 1MW 1800 rpm engines in the world.

About Dresser Waukesha

Dresser Waukesha is a leading manufacturer of natural gas engines that deliver clean, cost-effective power. Waukesha^® engines are operating around the world in power generation, gas compression and other mechanical drive applications. Dresser Waukesha, based in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA also packages engine-generator sets and DC switchgear controls for the distributed generation market. www.dresser.com/waukesha

About Dresser Inc.

Dresser Inc. is a global leader in providing highly-engineered infrastructure products for the global energy industry. Leading brand names within the Dresser portfolio include Dresser Wayne^® retail fueling systems, Waukesha^® natural gas-fired engines, Masoneilan^® control valves, Consolidated^® pressure relief valves, and ROOTS^® blowers and rotary gas meters. The company has manufacturing and customer service facilities strategically located worldwide and a sales presence in more than 150 countries. www.dresser.com