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Control and elimination of mobil-source particulate matter (PM) emissions is of increasing interest to engineers and scientists as regulators in industrialized countries promulgate lower emission levels in diesel engines. Relative to their gasoline engine counterparts, today's diesel engines, in general, still emit a higher mass of PM. While strictly speaking, this PM is an agglomeration of organic and inorganic particles, the predominant component is carbon and is commonly referred to as “soot”. For mobil-source PM control, one of the current preferred technologies is the ceramic closed-cell monolith Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF). Ideally, DPFs accumulate and store PM during low speed/temperature engine operation and burn the accumulated PM during high speed/temperature operation.

Emissions regulations for 2007 will likely require engine manufacturers to use a diesel particulate filter (DPF) to meet particulate matter (PM) emission requirements. With the lower operating temperatures of light-duty diesel engines, some form of catalyst will be required to facilitate oxidation of accumulated soot PM to regenerate the DPF. This catalyst can either be permanently applied to the filter substrate in the manufacturing process, or be continuously delivered via the diesel fuel. In this study we examined the impact of using both forms of catalyst. A recently published study of the fuel-borne catalyst additive MMT [1] (Methylcyclopentadienyl Manganese Tricarbonyl), reviewed the performance of MMT in conjunction with an uncatalyzed DPF [2].