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Despite drastic reduction of sulfur content in diesel fuel in the recent years, especially with the introduction of Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD), sulfur poisoning remains one of the most significant factors impacting performance of various catalysts in diesel aftertreatment systems. This is because even with ULSD, cumulative exposure of a catalyst over its lifetime in a heavy-duty diesel system may amount to kilograms of sulfur. In this study, we have found that the impact of sulfur poisoning on the performance of various diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC) strongly depends on the catalyst's operation history. For example, exposing a DOC to limited amounts of freshly deposited sulfur in bench reactor testing was shown to have a substantial detrimental effect. On the other hand, several samples which returned from vehicle or test-cell aging with high sulfur loading, have shown no signs of poisoning.

Experimental evaluation of soot trapping and oxidation behaviors of various diesel particulate filters (DPF) has been traditionally hampered by several experimental difficulties, such as the deposition of soot particles with well-characterized and consistent properties, and the tracking of the soot oxidation rate in real time. In the present study, an integrated bench flow-reactor system with a soot generator has been developed and its capabilities were demonstrated with regards to: Consistently and controllably loading soot on DPF samples; Monitoring the exhaust gas composition by FTIR, including quantification of the soot oxidation rate using CO and CO2; Measuring soot oxidation characteristics of various DPF samples. Soot particles were produced from a laminar propane co-flow diffusion flame.

A typical diesel exhaust emission control system for meeting the US EPA 2010 regulations includes one or more platinum-group metal (PGM)-containing catalysts, located upstream of an SCR unit. However, as was previously reported in literature, under certain operating conditions PGM elements can get transferred onto the downstream SCR catalyst, resulting in the loss of its NOx conversion efficiency. In the same studies, the effect of Pt poisoning was found to be mitigated by catalyst treatment at 850°C, presumably due to Pt volatilization and migration. In the present study, we have explored the process of Pt poisoning mitigation, and identified that the recovery can take place at lower temperatures, reducing the risk of hydrothermal damage to the catalyst.