Development of nanofiber based diesel soot filtration technology

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As evidenced by the most recent Volkswagen clean diesel scandal, R&D in diesel engine emission control is urgent and important to the world, including Canada. Soot from diesel engines is a complex aerosol containing mainly carbonaceous particles with trace amounts of inorganic material and other adsorbed species. Soot particles range from 10 to 100s nanometers. As a major air pollutant that is associated with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases as well as lung cancers, soot is responsible for millions of premature death annually around the world. As a result, increasingly stricter legislations have been published globally to control soot emissions from diesel engines and research in diesel soot abatement technology has received much interest over the last few years. Following the state-of-the-art, it is proposed to develop a diesel particulate filtration technology using CeO2-based catalysts in nanofiber form. It is featured with cost-effectiveness owing to the low energy consumption and relatively high efficiency for soot emission control by filtration and oxidation. Over the three years of R&D, the associated basics will be investigated by laboratory experiments and the performance of the prototype diesel particulate filter with nanofibrous catalyst will be tested using a real diesel engine exhaust. The proposed research will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team of experts with complimentary expertise in clean air technology, nanotechnology, mechanical engineering, and chemical engineering. One PhD and 3 undergraduate students will be trained through this proposed research project. They will join the Canadian workforce contributing to the advance of new knowledge and/or clean technology industry. This proposed research is important to the economy and environment of Canada. The clean air technology to be developed has a potential of immediate commercialization. R&D leading to cost-effective diesel soot emission control expand the business market of the industrial sponsor, and for the public, it will result in a great reduction in air pollutant emissions from the transport industry, improving Canada's air quality and public health.