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Future emissions regulations proposed for the Asian automotive industry (BS VI regulations for India and NS VI regulations for China) are strict and similar to EU VI regulations. As a result, they will require both advanced NOx control as well as advanced Particulate Matter (PM) control. This will drive implementation of full Catalyzed Diesel Particulate Filter (cDPF) and simultaneous NOx control using Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technologies. In this work, we present the performance of various Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC), cDPF, SCR and Ammonia slip catalyst (ASC) systems utilizing the World Harmonized Transient Cycle (WHTC). Aftertreatment Systems (ATS) required for both active and passive filter regeneration applications will be discussed. The sensitivity of key design parameters like catalyst technology, PGM loading, catalyst sizing to meet the regulation limits has been investigated.

Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems have been demonstrated as effective solutions for controlling NOx emissions from Heavy Duty diesel engines. Future HD diesel engines are being designed for higher engine out NOx to improve fuel economy, while discussions are in progress for tightening NOx emissions from HD engines post 2020. This will require increasingly higher NOx conversions across the emission control system and will challenge the current aftertreatment designs. Typical 2010/2013 Heavy Duty systems include a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) along with a catalyzed diesel particulate filter (CDPF) in addition to the SCR sub-assembly. For future aftertreatment designs, advanced technologies such as cold start concept (dCSC™) catalyst, SCR coated on filter (SCRF® hereafter referred to as SCR-DPF) and SCR coated on high porous flow through substrates can be utilized to achieve high NOx conversions, in combination with improved control strategies.

Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) catalysts have been demonstrated as an effective solution for controlling NOx emissions from diesel engines. Typical 2013 Heavy Duty Diesel emission control systems include a DOC upstream of a catalyzed soot filter (CSF) which is followed by urea injection and the SCR sub-assembly. There is a strong desire to further increase the NOx conversion capability of such systems, which would enable additional fuel economy savings by allowing engines to be calibrated to higher engine-out NOx levels. One potential approach is to replace the CSF with a diesel particulate filter coated with SCR catalysts (SCRF® technology, hereafter referred to as SCR-DPF) while keeping the flow-through SCR elements downstream, which essentially increases the SCR volume in the after-treatment assembly without affecting the overall packaging.

Stricter emission standards in the near future require not only a high conversion efficiency of the toxic air pollutants but also a substantial reduction of the greenhouse gases from automotive exhaust. Advanced engines with improved fuel efficiency can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions; their exhaust temperature is, however, also low. This consequently poses significant challenges to the emission control system demanding the catalysts to function at low temperatures both during the cold start period and under the normal engine operation conditions. In this paper, we will introduce a gasoline Cold Start Concept (gCSC™) technology developed for advanced stoichiometric-burn gasoline engines to meet future stringent emission regulations. To improve the low temperature performance of three-way catalysts, a novel Al2O3/CeO2/ZrO2 mixed oxide was developed.

Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems have been demonstrated as effective solutions for controlling NOx emissions from Heavy Duty diesel engines. Future HD diesel engines are being designed for higher engine out NOx to improve fuel economy, which will require increasingly higher NOx conversion to meet emission regulations. For future aftertreatment designs, advanced technologies such as SCR coated on filter (SCRF®) and SCR coated on high porous flow through substrates can be utilized to achieve high NOx conversion. In this work, different options were evaluated for achieving high NOx conversion. First, high performance NOx control catalysts were designed by using SCRF unit followed by additional SCR on high porosity substrates. Second, different control strategies were evaluated to understand the effect of reductant dosing strategy and thermal management on NOx conversion. Tests were carried out on a HD engine under transient test cycles.

Achieving early catalyst light-off is crucial if stringent emissions standards are to be met; if light-off is late, the emissions limit could be exceeded even before the catalyst starts to work. This paper presents a detailed simulation study of the factors affecting the light-off of a TWC. Simulation is not just faster and cheaper than vehicle testing, it also enables more insight into the factors affecting catalyst performance to be obtained. For example, changing the substrate (cell density and wall thickness) affects the rates of heat and mass transport, as well as the thermal mass of the catalyst. In a vehicle test, all three factors are changed at once, but with a simulation each of these factors can implemented one at time to enable the relative importance of these factors to be determined.

Catalytic emission control systems are installed on nearly all automobiles and heavy-duty trucks produced today to reduce exhaust emissions for the vehicles to meet government regulations. Current systems can achieve very high efficiencies in reducing tailpipe emissions once the catalytic components reach their operating temperatures. They are, however, relatively ineffective at temperatures below their operating temperature windows, especially during the cold start period of the vehicles. With the increasingly stringent government regulations, reducing the emissions during the cold start period before the catalytic components reach their operating temperatures is becoming a major challenge. For cold start HC control, HC traps based on zeolites have been investigated and commercialized for certain applications. For cold start NOx control, especially in lean burn engine exhaust, NOx storage and release catalysts have been evaluated.

Since early 2010, most new medium- and heavy-duty diesel vehicles in the US rely on urea-based Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology for meeting the most stringent regulations on nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions in the world today. Catalyst technologies of choice include Copper (Cu)- and Iron (Fe)-based SCR. In this work, the performances of Fe-SCR and Cu-SCR were investigated in the most commonly used DOC + CSF + SCR system configuration. Cu-SCR offered advantages over Fe-SCR in terms of low temperature conversion, NO₂:NOx ratio tolerance and NH₃ slip, while Fe-SCR demonstrated superior performance under optimized NO₂:NOx ratio and at higher temperatures. The Cu-SCR catalyst displayed less tolerance to sulfur (S) exposure. Reactor testing has shown that Cu-SCR catalysts deactivate at low temperature when poisoned by sulfur.

Emission control systems combining NOx Adsorber catalysts with Selective Catalytic Reduction catalysts (NAC + SCR) offer potential performance advantages for NOx control under lean conditions compared to systems consisting of only one of these technologies. The combined systems, however, also present new catalyst design challenges. In contrast to NAC-only systems, formation of NH₃ over the NAC component under NOx regeneration conditions is a desirable feature in the combined (NAC + SCR) system. The SCR component in the combined system needs to be as thermally durable as the stand-alone SCR technology and also has to withstand repeated high-temperature lean/rich transients encountered during periodic desulfation of the upstream NAC component. In this study, advanced NAC and SCR components were developed specifically for the combination system. The advanced NAC component exhibited a wider operating temperature window and higher NH₃ generation activity at reduced PGM loading.

Two major deactivation mechanisms of automotive catalysts during road usage are: 1. thermal aging 2. poison accumulation of oil-derived poisons such as zinc and phosphorus. A dynamometer-based aging cycle, incorporating a high-temperature low-poison mode to account for thermal aging followed by a low-temperature high-poison mode to account for poison accumulation, has been developed to allow the examination of catalyst formulations after exposure to both a harsh thermal and chemical aging environment. This type of aging cycle results in dynamometer-aged catalysts that are physically much more similar to road-aged catalysts than thermally-based dynamometer cycles. Using this aging-cycle, Pd-only, Pd-Rh and Pt-Rh light-off catalysts were examined. The Pd-Rh catalyst gave the best overall performance, with equivalent HC light-off performance to the Pd-only catalyst and equivalent NOx performance to the Pt-Rh catalyst.

Considerable work has been carried out to develop particulate control systems for light duty vehicles. These systems are required to operate under widely varying conditions of service. Examination of the extremes of operation shows the importance of the regeneration ability of the control system employed. In addition, a major requirement for a practical control system is minimum complexity. Discussed here is a catalyst system and the extension of the technology to allow for minimum complexity and the ability to operate at the defined extremes of use. The theory of the TRIM System and the results of evaluations on vehicles and test benches are given.

Catalytic trap oxidizers developed for use in control of particulate emissions from diesel engines have been advanced to the vehicle installation stage. This paper discusses the development of complete vehicle systems. Methods and techniques of assisted regeneration are presented along with control system concepts. Installation of the trap unit as part of an integrated vehicle exhaust system is described, along with designs and results from various prototype builds.