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Heavy-duty diesel engine particulate matter (PM) emissions must be reduced from 0.1 to 0.01 grams per brake horsepower-hour by 2007 due to EPA regulations [1]. A catalyzed particulate filter (CPF) is used to capture PM in the exhaust stream, but as PM accumulates in the CPF, exhaust flow is restricted resulting in reduced horsepower and increased fuel consumption. PM must therefore be burned off, referred to as CPF regeneration. Unfortunately, nominal exhaust temperatures are not always high enough to cause stable self-regeneration when needed. One promising method for active CPF regeneration is to inject fuel into the exhaust stream upstream of an oxidation catalytic converter (OCC). The chemical energy released during the oxidation of the fuel in the OCC raises the exhaust temperature and allows regeneration.

The present study investigates the pressure drop and filtration characteristics of wall-flow diesel particulate monoliths, with the aid of a mathematical model. An analytic solution to the model equations describing exhaust gas mass and momentum conservation, in the axial direction of a monolith cell, and pressure drop across its porous walls has been obtained. The solution is in very good agreement with available experimental data on the pressure drop of a typical wall-flow monolith. The capture of diesel particles by the monolith, is described applying the theory of filtration through a bed of spherical collectors. This simple model, is in remarkable agreement with the experimental data, collected during the present and previous studies, for the accumulation mode particles (larger than 0.1 μm).