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Three-way catalyst (TWC) converters can purify harmful substances, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and hydrocarbons, from the exhaust gases of gasoline engines. However, large amounts of these substances may be emitted before the TWC reaches its light-off temperature during cold starts, and its performance may be impaired by thermal deterioration during high-load driving. In this work, a simulation model was developed using axisuite commercial software by Exothermia S.A to predict the light-off conversion performance of Pd/CeO2-ZrO2-Al2O3 catalysts with different degrees of thermal deterioration. The model considered detailed surface reactions and the main factor of the deterioration mechanism. In the detailed reaction mechanism, adsorption, desorption, and surface reactions of each gas species at active sites of the platinum group metal (PGM) particles were considered based on the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism.

Three-way catalyst (TWC) converters are often used to purify toxic substances contained in exhaust emissions from gasoline engines. However, a large amount of CO, NOx and THC may be emitted before the TWC reaches its light-off temperature during a cold start. In this work, a numerical model was developed for studying the purification performance of a close-coupled TWC converter during the cold start period. The TWC model was built using axisuite, commercial software by Exothermia S.A. Model gas experiments were designed for calibrating the chemical reaction scheme and corresponding reaction rate parameters in the TWC model. The TWC model was able to simulate the purification performance of CO, NOx and THC under both lean and rich air-fuel equivalence ratios (λ) for different conditions. The light-off temperature and oxygen storage capacity (OSC) behavior were also successfully validated in the model. Vehicle tests were conducted on a chassis dynamometer to verify the TWC model.

Three-way catalyst (TWC) converters are used to remove harmful substances (e.g., carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and hydrocarbons (HC)) emitted from gasoline engines. However, a large amount of emissions could be emitted before the TWC reaches its light-off temperature during a cold start. For hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) powered by gasoline engines, the emission purification performance by TWC converters unfortunately deteriorates because of mode switching from engine to battery and vice versa, which can repeatedly generate cold start conditions for the TWCs. In this study, aiming to reduce emissions from series HEVs by early activation of TWCs, numerical simulations and experiments are carried out. An HEV is tested on a chassis dynamometer in the Worldwide Light-duty Test Cycle (WLTC) mode. The upstream and downstream gas conditions of the close-coupled catalyst converter are measured.

Reduction of the amount of platinum group metals (PGM: Pt, Pd, Rh) utilized in three-way catalysts (TWC) has been required from a point of resource shortage and cost effectiveness. A conventional TWC system is composed of a close-coupled (CC) catalyst and an underfloor (UF) catalyst, both PGM-based. The CC-TWC promotes HC/CO oxidation and NOx reduction by CO. The UF-TWC mainly facilitates further NOx reduction by CO. In this study, a TWC system comprising a CC catalyst with PGM and an UF catalyst without PGM has been described. The newly developed system, performing reasonably well with a conventional stoichiometric gasoline combustion engine, offers an opportunity to reduce PGM usage. In this system, the UF-non-PGM catalyst is composed of a Ni/CeO2 bottom layer which functions as a deNOx catalyst with CO-NO reaction and a zeolite based top layer which works as a deNOx catalyst with passive NH3-SCR reaction.

For diesel emission control systems containing a Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) and a Catalyzed Soot Filter (CSF) the DOC is used to oxidize the additional fuel injected into the cylinder and/or the exhaust pipe for the purpose of increasing the CSF inlet temperature during the soot regeneration. Hydrocarbon (HC) oxidation performance of the DOC is affected by HC species as well as a catalyst design, i.e., precious metal species, support materials and additives. How engine-out HC species vary as a function of fuel supply conditions is not well understood. In addition, the relationship between catalyst design and oxidation activity of different hydrocarbon species requires further study. In this study, diesel fuel was supplied by in-cylinder, post injection and exhaust HC species were measured by a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and a gas analyzer. The post injection timing was set to either 73°, 88° or 98° ATDC(after top dead center).

Urea-SCR system has a high NOx reduction potential in the steady-state diesel engine operation. In complicated transient operations, however, there are certain problems with the urea-SCR system in that NOx reduction performance degrades and adsorbed NH3 would be emitted. Here, optimum urea injection methods and exhaust bypass control to overcome these problems are studied. This exhaust bypass control enables NO/NOx ratio at the inlet of SCR catalyst to be decreased widely, which prevents over production of NO2 at the pre-oxidation catalyst. Steady-state and simple transient engine tests were conducted to clarify NOx reduction characteristics when optimum urea injection pattern and exhaust bypass control were applied. In simple transient test, only the engine load was rapidly changed for obtaining the fundamental knowledge concerning the effect of those techniques.

Combustion behavior of the SOF (Soluble organic fraction) fraction of diesel particulate by flow-thru type diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC) was studied. A two brick DOC system with an air gap showed higher SOF performance than a single brick DOC of the same total volume. Collision frequency of the TPM (total particulate matter) to the catalyst layer was studied by calculation of the turbulence energy in the gas flow channel. No large difference in collision frequency was observed between one brick and two bricks. The front face effect was calculated from the geometric surface and it was confirmed that such an effect was small in the two brick DOC case. The SOF performance advantage for the two brick DOC system separated by an air gap was due to a thermo-mass effect created by reducing the DOC volume.

Sulfate generation by diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC) is still a problem although sulfur concentration in the diesel fuel will be reduced in future. Two approaches were attempted to reduce the sulfate generation without inhibiting the HC and CO oxidation performance. One was to use an optimized support material that adsorbs less SO2 and has sufficient specific surface area for HC/CO oxidation. Another approach was to apply a layer on the catalyst, which prevents SO2 adsorption. Sulfate generation was successfully reduced while maintaining high HC/CO oxidation performance.