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The high global warming potential of nitrous oxide (N₂O) led to its recent inclusion in the list of regulated pollutants under the emerging greenhouse gas regulations. While N₂O can be present in small quantities among the combustion products, it can also be generated as a minor byproduct in various types of aftertreatment systems. In this work, a systematic review of sources of N₂O is presented, along with the potential mechanisms of formation in a typical selective-catalytic-reduction-based diesel exhaust aftertreatment system. It is demonstrated that diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC), selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst, and ammonia slip catalyst (ASC) can all potentially contribute to N₂O formation, depending on the catalyst material and exhaust gas conditions, as well as aftertreatment operation strategies. Furthermore, catalysts used in SCR aftertreatment system are also shown to decompose and/or reduce N₂O to N₂ under select conditions.

Oxidation of NO to NO₂ over a Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) plays an important role in different types of aftertreatment systems, by enhancing NOx storage on adsorber catalysts, improving the NOx reduction efficiency of SCR catalysts, and enabling the passive regeneration of Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF). The presence of hydrocarbon (HC) species in the exhaust is known to affect the NO oxidation performance over a DOC; however, specific details of this effect, including its underlying mechanism, remain poorly understood. Two major pathways are commonly considered to be responsible for the overall effect: NO oxidation inhibition, due to the presence of HC, and the consumption of the NO₂ produced by reaction with hydrocarbons. In this work we have attempted to decouple these two pathways, by adjusting the catalyst inlet concentrations of NO and NO₂ to the thermodynamic equilibrium levels and measuring the composition changes over the catalyst in the presence of HC species.