Impact of Fuel Metal Impurities on the Durability of a Light-Duty Diesel Aftertreatment System

Robert McCormick, Jonathan Burton, Aaron Williams, Andrew Wereszczak, Ethan Fox, Michael Lance, Todds Toops, Giovanni Cavataio, Douglas Dobson, Jim Warner, Rasto Brezny, K. Nguyen, D. Brookshear

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

Abstract

Alkali and alkaline earth metal impurities found in diesel fuels are potential poisons for diesel exhaust catalysts. A set of diesel engine production exhaust systems was aged to 150,000 miles. These exhaust systems included a diesel oxidation catalyst, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst, and diesel particulate filter (DPF). Four separate exhaust systems were aged, each with a differentfuel: ultralow sulfur diesel containing no measureable metals, B20 (a common biodiesel blend) containing sodium, B20 containing potassium, and B20 containing calcium, which were selected to simulate the maximum allowable levels in B100 according to ASTM D6751. Analysis included Federal Test Procedure emissions testing, bench-flow reactor testing of catalyst cores, electron probe microanalysis(EPMA), and measurement of thermo-mechanical properties of the DPFs. EPMA imaging found that the sodium and potassium penetrated into the washcoat, while calcium remained on the surface. Bench-flow reactor experiments were used to measure the standard nitrogen oxide (NOx) conversion, ammonia storage, and ammonia oxidation for each of the aged SCR catalysts. Vehicle emissions tests were conductedwith each of the aged catalyst systems using a chassis dynamometer. The vehicle successfully passed the 0.2 gram/mile NOx emission standard with each of the four aged exhaust systems.
Original languageAmerican English
Number of pages14
StatePublished - 2013
EventSAE 2013 World Congress and Exhibition - Detroit, Michigan
Duration: 16 Apr 201318 Apr 2013

Conference

ConferenceSAE 2013 World Congress and Exhibition
CityDetroit, Michigan
Period16/04/1318/04/13

Bibliographical note

Posted with permission

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/CP-5400-57585

Keywords

  • alkali
  • alkaline
  • diesel exhaust catalysts
  • diesel fuels
  • earth metal impurities
  • exhaust system aging
  • Ford F250 pickup

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