NSF/DOE Partnership on Advanced Combustion Engines: Low Temperature NOx Storage and Reduction Using Engineered Materials

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Abstract#1258742Crocker, MarkUnlike conventional gasoline vehicles, the engines in diesel vehicles ? as well as some advanced gasoline vehicles ? require excess air to combust their fuel. Conventional catalytic converters do not operate efficiently under these conditions, necessitating the use of newer, alternative emission control catalyst technologies. Currently, these advanced catalytic converters are able to meet current federal requirements with respect to the emission of gaseous pollutants, namely nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. Furthermore, although diesel engines are more fuel efficient than their gasoline counterparts, increases in fuel economy are still needed. The drive towards greater fuel efficiency is resulting in the development of advanced combustion engines in which greater efficiency results in increasingly lower exhaust gas temperatures. At such low temperatures, current catalyst converter technology will be unlikely to meet present emission standards, let alone future standards. The way to address this situation is to develop new technologies which will enable catalytic converters to function efficiently at low temperature. This is a very difficult task. A novel approach to achieving catalyst activity improvement has been proposed in response to the joint National Science Foundation and Department of Energy solicitation on Advanced Combustion Engines. The joint Agency award is made through the NSF Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems Division and its Catalysis & Biocatalysis Program to Professor Mark Crocker and Dr. Yaying Ji at the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (UK CAER), who will team with Dr. Jae-Soon Choi of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Dr. John Darab of MEL Chemicals and Dr. Christine Lambert of Ford Motor Co. Emphasis will be placed on the abatement of NOx emissions, given that this pollutant is the most difficult to remove, employing an approach that combines materials synthesis, mechanistic studies, and catalyst evaluation under realistic conditions. Specifically, materials will be developed that are capable of storing NOx at low temperatures and then periodically converting it into the harmless products, nitrogen and water. This work will both lead to the generation of fundamental knowledge concerning the interaction of NOx with ceramic materials of the type typically used in catalytic converters for storage or adsorption of a gaseous component, and to the development of improved catalytic converters for the control of pollutant emissions at low temperatures. The industrial partners will offer valuable scale and commercialization input, as well as participation in fabrication and testing. An additional outcome of this project will be the education and training of students in key aspects of materials science, catalysis and environmental engineering. The project will be a collaborative effort between academia, industry and a national laboratory, thereby providing multidisciplinary training to students that would not be typically available in a traditional academic project. Opportunities will be provided to graduate, undergraduate and high school students to work on the project and receive hands-on training. Project results will be disseminated using both conventional methods (scholarly articles, conference presentations) as well as social media (Twitter, Facebook and a dedicated website), and will be incorporated into a graduate level course (?Principles and Applications of Catalysis?) taught in the UK Chemistry Department.