SELECTIVE REDUCTION OF NOX IN OXYGEN RICH ENVIRONMENTS WITH PLASMA-ASSISTED CATALYSIS: CATALYST DEVELOPMENT AND MECHANISTIC STUDIES
The control of NOx (NO and NO2) emissions from so-called ''lean-burn'' vehicle engines remains a challenge. In recent years, there have been a number of reports that show that a plasma device combined with a catalyst can reduce as high as 90% or more of NOx in simulated diesel and other ''lean-burn'' exhaust. In the case of propylene containing simulated diesel exhaust, the beneficial role of a plasma treatment is now thought to be due to oxidation of NO to NO2, and the formation of partially oxidized hydrocarbons that are more active for the catalytic reduction of NO2 than propylene. Thus, the overall system can be most usefully described as hydrocarbon selective catalytic reduction (SCR) enhanced by 'reforming' the exhaust with a non-thermal plasma (NTP) device. For plasma-enhanced catalysis, both zeolite- and alumina-based materials have shown high activity, albeit in somewhat different temperature ranges, when preceded by an NTP reactor. This paper will briefly describe our research efforts aimed at optimizing the catalyst materials for NTP-catalysis devices based, in part, on our continuing studies of the NTP- and catalytic-reaction mechanisms. Various alkali- and alkaline earth-cation-exchanged Y zeolites have been prepared, their material properties characterized, and they have been tested as catalytic materials for NOx reduction in laboratory NTP-catalysis reactors. Interestingly, NO2 formed in the plasma and not subsequently removed over these catalysts, will back-convert to NO, albeit to varying extents depending upon the nature of the cation. Besides this comparative reactivity, we will also discuss selected synthesis strategies for enhancing the performance of these zeolite-based catalyst materials. A particularly important result from our mechanistic studies is the observation that aldehydes, formed during the plasma treatment of simulated diesel exhaust, are the important species for the reduction of NOx to N2. Indeed, acetaldehyde has been found to be especially effective in the thermal reduction of both NO and NO2 over Ba- and Na-Y zeolite catalysts.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab., Richland, WA; Ford Motor Company (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE) (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 829828
- Report Number(s):
- CONf-200308-131; TRN: US200428%%1093
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 9th Diesel Engine Emissions Reduction (DEER) Workshop 2003, Newport, RI (US), 08/24/2003--08/28/2003; Other Information: PBD: 24 Aug 2003
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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