Research Cooperation with Ford
In September of this year ACA started a research cooperation with Ford Motor Company. The goal of this project is to understand the influence of different hydrocarbons (HC) on the lean NOx trap (LNT) during the rich purge.
The necessity of this cooperation is rooted in the changing legislations concerning exhaust gas emissions and the corresponding introduction of new certification cycles and RDE (real world driving emissions) as well as the global goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The application of LNT instead of SCR (selective catalytic reduction) catalyst allows potential weight and cost savings. Moreover, LNT may yield an increase of the total system efficiency if it is utilized in combination with a SCR.
The promising opportunities mainly refer to great technical challenges. Thus, comprehensive investigations have to be conducted whereas following working steps are included in the project:
- Experimental investigations in different laboratory test benches
- HC oxidation under various conditions
- NOx conversion, selectivity and HC-slip
- Investigation on transfer limitations and axial reaction profile
- Detailed characterization of catalyst samples in different aging status
- Correlation of catalyst composition and aging to catalyst performance
- Investigation of rich purge condition influence on catalyst aging
- Evaluation of reversibility
- Ranking of HC-species against Propylene as standard
- Simulation supported ranking of HC influences
- Suggestion for catalyst composition and purge strategy optimization