Articles

All articles  |  Recent articles

Optimisation of a Urea Selective Catalytic Reduction System with a Coated Ceramic Mixing Element

M.A. Damm^,1, M. Sauerborn^,1, T. Fend^,2, U. Herrmann^,1

¹ Solar-Institut Jülich (SIJ), FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences
² Institute for Solar Research, Facilities and Solar Materials

received August 1, 2016, received in revised form October 3, 2016, accepted November 4, 2016

Vol. 8, No. 1, Pages 19-24   DOI: 10.4416/JCST2016-00056

Abstract

The selective catalytic reduction of NO_x emissions to H₂O and N₂ is a major technology in automotive applications for exhaust gas aftertreatment. In this process, the reactant ammonia (NH₃) is produced by injecting AdBlue®. With the help of an SCR catalyst, this NH₃ reduces emitted NOx to non-toxic nitrogen (N₂) and water (H₂O). For the homogenization and evaporation of the urea solution, usually metallic mixing elements are used. The new approach uses a mixing element based on structured porous ceramic with an enlarged surface and a special catalytic coating. The Solar-Institut Jülich and the German Aerospace Centre have developed a manufacturing process to modify and optimise the structure of basic polyurethane foams to achieve a high NH₃ conversion rate in combination with adjustable backpressure. The optimised flow dynamics of the exhaust gas and the additional special catalytic coating lead to a high-performance mixing element. As a consequence, the size of the conventional SCR catalyst, which is located downstream of the mixer, can be reduced. This leads to cost-efficient and compact exhaust gas aftertreatment. In this paper the experimental results of the performance analysis of this newly designed porous-ceramic-coated mixing element will be presented.

Keywords

Selective catalytic reduction system, selective catalytic reduction catalyst, mixing element, porous ceramic polyurethane foam

Copyright

Göller Verlag GmbH