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The selective catalytic reduction (SCR) is perhaps the most efficient process to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions in engine exhaust gas. Research efforts are currently devoted to realizing and tuning SCR-reactors for automotive applications to meet the severe future emission standards, such as the European “Euro VI”, in terms of NOx and particulate matter produced by vehicles. In this paper, we apply for the first time the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) as a computational tool to study the performance of a SCR reactor. LBM has been recently adopted for the study of complex phenomena of technical interest, and it is characterized by a detailed reproduction of both the porous structure of SCR reactor and the fluid-dynamic and chemical phenomena that take place in it. The aim of our model is to predict the behavior and performances of SCR reactor by accounting for the physical and chemical interactions between exhaust gas flow and the reactor.

In this paper, we deploy a novel, multidimensional approach to simulate SCR reactors across physical scales. For the first time, a full 3D Lattice Boltzmann (LB) solver is developed, able to accurately capture the fluid dynamic phenomena taking place inside SCR reactors, as well as the catalytic conversion of NOx. The influence of engine load on exhaust gas mass flow rate and catalytic converter activity is taken into account. The proposed approach is computationally light and the results prove the reliability and versatility of the LB Method for the simulation of the complex phenomena that take place inside the after-treatment devices.