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Water injection (WI) can improve gasoline engine performance and efficiency, and on-board water recovery technology could eliminate the need for customers to refill an on-board water reservoir. In this regard, the technical feasibility of exhaust water recovery (EWR) is described in this paper. Water injection testing was conducted at a full load condition (5000 rpm/18.1 bar BMEP) and a high load condition (3000 rpm/14.0 bar BMEP) on a turbocharged gasoline direction injection (GTDI) engine. Water recovery testing was conducted both after the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) cooler and after the charge air cooler (CAC) at a high load (3000 rpm/14.0 bar BMEP), as well as a part load (2080 rpm/6.8 bar BMEP) condition, at temperatures ca. 10-15 °C below the dew point of the flow stream. Three types of water separation designs were tested: a passive cyclone separator (CS), a passive membrane separator (MEM), and an active separator (AS).

Nearly a third of the fuel energy is wasted through the exhaust of a vehicle. An efficient waste heat recovery process will undoubtedly lead to improved fuel efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Currently, there are multiple waste heat recovery technologies that are being investigated in the auto industry. One innovative waste heat recovery approach uses Thermoacoustic Converter (TAC) technology. Thermoacoustics is the field of physics related to the interaction of acoustic waves (sonic power) with heat flows. As in a heat engine, the TAC produces electric power where a temperature differential exists, which can be generated with engine exhaust (hot side) and coolant (cold side). Essentially, the TAC converts exhaust waste heat into electricity in two steps: 1) the exhaust waste heat is converted to acoustic energy (mechanical) and 2) the acoustic energy is converted to electrical energy.

A unique validation method is proposed for mount designs of Lean NOx Traps (LNT's), in which characteristic curves of failure points as functions of thermal cycles and vibration amplitudes are generated. LNT's are one of the several new types of emissions control devices applied to Diesel Exhaust Systems, and they reduce the amount of NOx through chemical adsorption. Desulfation must occur nearly every hour, which involves raising the inlet gas temperature of the LNT to around 700°C to “burn off” sulfur from the catalyst, which otherwise would decrease its catalytic activity. This temperature is held for several minutes, and its cyclic occurrence has a negative effect on the long-term performance of the support mat, a major component of its mount design. As substrate temperatures increase, shell temperatures do as well, and thermal growth differences between the ceramic substrate and metallic shell cause the gap between them, which is filled by the support mat, to increase.

As Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) NOx abatement systems gain commercial acceptance and popularity, the need for efficiency predictive capabilities increases. To this end, a flow bench was developed capable of varying steady state inputs (temperature, flow rate and NOx concentration). The efficiencies of various SCR systems was measured and compared. This concept of a steady state flow bench approach allows for an efficient and cost effective means to evaluate comparable system designs.

As emissions regulations around the world become more stringent, emerging markets are seeking alternative strategies that align with local infrastructures and conditions. A Lean NOx Catalyst (LNC) is developed that achieves up to 60% NOx reduction with ULSD as its reductant and ≻95% with ethanol-based fuel reductants. Opportunities exist in countries that already have an ethanol-based fuel infrastructure, such as Brazil, improving emissions reduction penetration rates without costs and complexities of establishing urea infrastructures. The LNC performance competes with urea SCR NOx reduction, catalyst volume, reductant consumption, and cost, plus it is proven to be durable, passing stationary test cycles and adequately recovering from sulfur poisoning. Controls are developed and applied on a 7.2L engine, an inline 6-cylinder non-EGR turbo diesel.

Monolithic emission control devices typically use a support mat material to provide mechanical support, mechanical isolation, and thermal insulation for ceramic monoliths. This material is similar to a felt, but made from ceramic fibers. Non-intumescent support mat materials contain only ceramic fibers and binder compounds, while intumescent support mats also contain vermiculite; a material that expands with the application of heat. The durability of the support mat is critical to the durability of the overall emission control components. In addition to many component validation methods that evaluate the durability of the entire system methods to evaluate the response and predict the durability of the support mat itself help provide important design information. This paper summarizes challenges and artifacts in support mat testing.

Catalysts and filters continue to be applied widely to meet particulate matter regulations across new and retrofit diesel engines. Soot management of the filter continues to be enhanced, including regeneration methodologies. Concerns regarding in-cylinder post-injection of fuel for active regeneration increases interests in directly injecting this fuel into the exhaust. Performance of secondary fuel injection layouts is discussed, and sensitivities on thermal uniformity are measured and analyzed, providing insight to packaging challenges and methods to characterize and improve application designs. Influences of end cone geometries, mixers, and injector mounting positions are quantified via thermal distribution at each substrate's outlet. A flow laboratory is applied for steady state characterization, repeated on an engine dynamometer, which also provides transient results across the NRTC.

Secondary fuel injection is applied to facilitate active soot management of the particulate filter within diesel aftertreatment systems, avoiding concerns with fuel delivery via in-cylinder post-injection. System performance is dependent on the thermo-fluid interactions of the injected fuel with the exhaust stream, with the intent of having more fully vaporized fuel and a well-mixed air-fuel mixture at the inlet of the oxidation catalyst for uniform thermal distribution as it exothermically reacts. Pre-heating the fuel with a diesel vaporizer prior to its delivery into the exhaust enables improved system performance, reducing droplet sizes and mixing demands. A diesel vaporizer is applied within the exhaust of a medium duty truck application, and the response of the catalyst is characterized across a variety of conditions.

Stringent global emissions legislation demands effective NOx reduction strategies, particularly for the aftertreatment, and current typical liquid urea SCR systems achieve efficiencies greater than 90% [1]. However, with such high-performing systems comes the trade-off of requiring a tank of reductant (urea water solution) to be filled regularly, usually as soon as the fuel fillings or as far as oil changes. Advantages of solid reductants, particularly ammonium carbamate, include greater ammonia densities, enabling the reductant refill interval to be extended several multiples versus a given reductant volume of urea, or diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) [2]. An additional advantage is direct gaseous ammonia dosing, enabling reductant injection at lower exhaust temperatures to widen its operational coverage achieving greater emissions reduction potential [3], as well as eliminating deposits, reducing mixing lengths, and avoiding freeze/thaw risks and investments.

This paper describes the joint development by Tenneco and Pi Shurlok of a complete diesel engine aftertreatment system for controlling particulate matter emissions. The system consists of a DOC, DPF, sensors, controller and an exhaust fuel injection system to allow active DPF regeneration. The mechanical components were designed for flow uniformity, low backpressure and component durability. The overall package is intended as a complete PM control system solution for OEMs, which does not require any significant additions to the OEM's engine control strategies and minimizes integration complexity. Thus, to make it easier to adapt to different engine platforms, ranging from small off-road vehicle engines to large locomotive engines, model-based control algorithms were developed in preference to map-based controls.

This study investigates the passive regeneration behavior of diesel particulate filters (DPFS) with various PGM loadings under different engine operating conditions. Four wall-flow DPFs are used; one uncoated and three wash-coated with low, medium, and high PGM loadings, with and without an upstream diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC). DPFs with variable pre-soot loads are evaluated at two steady state temperatures (300°C and 400°C), as well as across three levels of transients based on the 13-mode ESC cycle. Passive regeneration rates are calculated based on pre and post soot gravimetric measurements along with accumulated soot mass rates for specified exhaust mass flow rates and temperatures. Results illustrate the effect of temperature, NO₂ content, and soot loading on passive regeneration without upstream DOCs or DPF wash coatings.

The introduction of stringent EPA 2015 regulations for locomotive / marine engines and IMO 2016 Tier III marine engines initiates the need to develop large diesel engine aftertreatment systems to drastically reduce emissions such as SOx, PM, NOx, unburned HC and CO. In essence, the aftertreatment systems must satisfy a comprehensive set of performance criteria with respect to back pressure, emission reduction efficiency, mixing, urea deposits, packaging, durability, cost and others. Given multiple development objectives, a systematic approach must be adopted with top-down structure that addresses top-level technical directions, mid-level subsystem layouts, and bottom-level component designs and implementations. This paper sets the objective to provide an overview of system development philosophy, and at the same time touch specific development scenarios as illustrations.

In order to satisfy tightening global emissions regulations, diesel truck manufacturers are striving to meet increasingly stringent Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) reduction standards. The majority of heavy duty diesel trucks have integrated urea SCR NOx abatement strategies. To this end, aftertreatment systems need to be properly engineered to achieve high conversion efficiencies. A EuroV intent urea SCR system is evaluated and failed to meet NOx conversion targets with severe urea deposit formation. Systematic enhancements of the design have been performed to enable it to meet targets, including emission reduction efficiency via improved reagent mixing, evaporation, distribution, back pressure, and removing of urea deposits. Multiple urea mixers, injector mounting positions and various system layouts are developed and evaluated, including both CFD analysis and full scale laboratory tests.

2010 and future EPA regulations introduce stringent Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) reduction targets for diesel engines. Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) of NOx by Urea over catalyst has become one of the main solutions to achieve these aggressive reductions. As such, urea solution is injected into the exhaust gas, evaporated and decomposed to ammonia via mixing with the hot exhaust gas before passing through an SCR catalyst. Urea mixers, in this regard, are crucial to ensure successful evaporation and mixing since its liquid state poses significant barriers, especially at low temperature conditions that incur undesired deposits. Intensive efforts have been taken toward developing such urea mixers, and multiple criteria have been derived for them, mainly including NOx reduction efficiency and uniformity. In addition, mixers must also satisfy other requirements such as low pressure drop penalty, mechanical strength, material integrity, low cost, and manufacturability.

New emissions standards for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in on-road diesel vehicles are effective in 2010, and a common approach applies urea selective catalytic reduction (SCR). Urea is injected into the exhaust and decomposes to form ammonia, which chemically reacts with NOx as it passes through an SCR catalyst. Ammonia is corrosive and negatively affects typical stainless steels used in exhaust applications, but these corrosive impacts have not yet been quantified in an exhaust system. Two unique corrosion tests are performed on a number of various stainless steel samples, illustrating such performance concerns with 409, while offering alternatives with much better performance, including cost-effective options. The method applied is described, yielding performance criteria through appearance, weight loss, and corrosion pit depth.

The main objective of this work is to develop a low-temperature SCR catalyst for the reduction of nitrogen oxides at cold start, low-idle and low-load conditions. A series of metal oxide- incorporated beta zeolite catalysts were prepared by adopting incipient wetness technique, cation-exchange, deposition-precipitation and other synthesis techniques. The resulting catalysts were characterized and tested for reduction of NOx in a fixed bed continuous flow quartz micro-reactor using ammonia as the reductant gas. Initial catalyst formulations have been exhibited good NOx reduction activity at low-temperatures. These catalyst formulations showed a maximum NOx conversion in the temperature range of 100 - 350°C. Besides, more experiments were performed with the aim of optimizing these formulations with respect to the metal atomic ratio, preparation method, active components and supported metal type.

With increasing applications of urea SCR for NOx emission reduction, improving the system performance and durability has become a high priority. A typical urea SCR system includes a urea injector, injector housing, mixer, and appropriate pipe configurations to allow continuous urea injection into the exhaust stream and evaporation of urea solution into gaseous products. Continuous operation at various conditions with high NOx reduction is possible, but one problem that threatens the life and performance of these systems is urea deposit. When urea or its byproducts become deposited on the inner surfaces of the system including walls, mixers, injector housings and substrates it can create concerns of backpressure and material deteriorations. In addition, deposits as a waste of reagents can negatively affect engine operation, emissions performance and DEF economy. Urea deposit behavior is explored in terms of heat transfer, pipe geometry, injector layout and mixing mechanisms.

Evolving marine diesel emission regulations drive significant reductions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. There is, therefore, considerable interest to develop and validate Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) converters for marine diesel NOx emission control. Substrates in marine applications need to be robust to survive the high sulfur content of marine fuels and must offer cost and pressure drop benefits. In principle, extruded honeycomb substrates of higher cell density offer benefits on system volume and provide increased catalyst area (in direct trade-off with increased pressure drop). However higher cell densities may become more easily plugged by deposition of soot and/or sulfate particulates, on the inlet face of the monolithic converter, as well as on the channel walls and catalyst coating, eventually leading to unacceptable flow restriction or suppression of catalytic function.

An active diesel particulate filter (DPF) regeneration system is evaluated, which applies secondary fuel injection (SFI) directly within the exhaust system upstream of a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC). Diesel fuel is oxidized in the presence of a proprietary catalyst system, increasing exhaust gas temperatures in an efficient and controlled manner, even during low engine-out gas temperatures. The exotherms produced by secondary fuel injection (SFI) have been evaluated using two different DOC volumes and platinum catalyst loadings. DOC light-off temperatures were measured using SFI under steady-state conditions on an engine dynamometer. A ΔT method was used for the light-off temperature measurements – i.e., the minimum DOC inlet gas temperature at which the exothermic reaction increases the outlet gas temperature 20°C or greater than the inlet temperature.

The presented work evaluates several mixer designs being considered for use in large Diesel exhaust aftertreatment systems. The mixers are placed upstream of a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) in the exhaust system, where a liquid hydrocarbon fuel is injected. DOC exothermic behaviour resulting from each mixer at different operating conditions is evaluated. A gas flow bench equipped with a XY-Table measurement system is used to determine gas velocity, temperature, and hydrocarbon species uniformity, as well as, pressure drop. Experimental mixer data obtained from a flow bench and an engine dynamometer are compared and discussed. The experimental methodology used in this study can be used to evaluate mixers via comprehensive testing.