Grantee Research Project Results
NOx Stripping from Spark Ignition Automobile Engine Exhaust
EPA Contract Number: 68D40071Title: NOx Stripping from Spark Ignition Automobile Engine Exhaust
Investigators: Cole, Jerald A.
Small Business: Energy and Environmental Research Corporation (CA)
EPA Contact: Richards, April
Phase: II
Project Period: September 1, 1994 through April 1, 1996
Project Amount: $164,931
RFA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - Phase II (1994) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: SBIR - Air Pollution , Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) , Air Quality and Air Toxics
Description:
Approximately half of automotive NOx is released in the initial minutes after start up, when the catalytic converter is cold. This NOx is a significant source of acid rain and participates in ozone formation. This project will determine the feasibility of reversibly adsorbing this "cold-start" NOx in a sorbent bed and subsequently releasing the NOx into a three-way catalytic converter to be reduced. This could reduce the environmental NOx burden in many urban areas by as much as 25 percent. It could also permit the use of "lean-start" engines, which have the added advantage of reducing CO and hydrocarbon emissions. This device would be similar in design to existing catalytic converters.Phase II will address the technical questions needed to design a prototype system. These include determining the capacity of the sorbent, the impact of support matrix chemistry and geometry, the global kinetics of NOx adsorption, thermal and chemical deactivation rates and mechanisms. The experiments will be carried out in an isothermal packed bed reactor with on-line instrumental gas analysis. In demonstrating feasibility, the Phase II effort will produce a design for a prototype unit to be used for engine tests.
Supplemental Keywords:
Catalytic Converter, NOx, Oxides of Nitrogen, Automobile., Sustainable Industry/Business, RFA, Air, Scientific Discipline, Toxics, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Sustainable Environment, HAPS, mobile sources, Environmental Chemistry, Engineering, Chemistry, & Physics, tropospheric ozone, VOCs, cleaner production/pollution prevention, air toxics, Environmental Engineering, vehicular exhaust, automotive combustion, automotive emission controls, NOx stripping, nitrogren oxides (NOx), Nitrogen Oxides, Nox, catalytic converter, engine exhaust, nitrogen oxides (Nox), engines, engine, automobile engine, automobile engine exhausts, automotive exhaustProgress and Final Reports:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.