Fundamental understanding of the Di-Air system (an alternative NO_x abatement technology). I: The difference in reductant pre-treatment of ceria

Abstract

Toyota's Di-Air DeNOx system is a promising DeNOx system to meet NOx emission requirement during the real driving, yet, a fundamental understanding largely lacks, e.g. the benefit of fast frequency fuel injection. Ceria is the main ingredient in Di-Air catalyst composition. Hence, we investigated the reduction of ceria by reductants, e.g. CO, H2, and hydrocarbons (C3H6 and C3H8), with Temporal Analysis of Product (TAP) technique. The results show that the reduction by CO yielded a faster catalyst reduction rate than that of H2. However, they reached the same final degree of ceria reduction. Hydrocarbons generated almost three times deeper degree of ceria reduction than that with CO and H2. In addition, hydrocarbons resulted in carbonaceous deposits on the ceria surface. The total amount of converted NO over the C3H6 reduced sample is around ten times more than that of CO. The deeper degree of reduction and the deposition of carbon by hydrocarbon explain why hydrocarbons are the most powerful reductants in Toyota's Di-Air NOx abatement system.