Methods and Infrastructure

 

Material Characterization

Quadrasorb © ACA

Developing new materials concerning catalysts needs a  detailed examination and characterization of the used resp. the considered substances. Therefore, great number of different methods are available at ACA.

  • (Powder) X-Ray diffraction (XRD)
  • Nitrogen sorption
  • Chemisorption (TPR, TPD, TPO)
  • Water sorption
  • Thermogravimetry (+ FTIR)
  • Infrared spectroscopy (ATR, DRIFTS, in situ DRIFTS)
  • Elemental analysis (ICP-OES, CHNOS)
 

Component Analysis

Laboratory Gas Bench © ACA

Gaining detailed knowledge of the function of aftertreatment components can be realized by analyzing the materials developed in the Project House as well as commercial materials in the Laboratory Gas Bench (LGB).

Advantages of the Laboratory Gas Bench:

  • Independent parameters: gas mixture, space velocity and temperature
  • High reproducibility
  • Optimized test duration
  • No complex engine test setups
  • Cost efficient studies
 

Simulation

Simulations from molecular level up to the entire exhaust system © ACA

Simulations should yield a detailed understanding about the most important mechanisms inside the catalysts as well as about exhaust gas temperatures, volume flow and compositions during engine operation. For this purpose, simulations are conducted from molecular level up to the entire exhaust system.

  • Gas kinetic modelling

  • Modelling structure, morphology & composition of new materials

  • Comparison with experiments, search for descriptors for predictive modelling

  • 1D- simulation of the entire exhaust system

 

 
 

High Resolution Optical Measurement Instrumentation

Optical Measuring Technique with a laser beam © WSA

 

The material transport in the boundary layer between gas flow and catalyst surface are depicted and analyzed with different optical measuerement techniques.

  • Development of generic experimental setups and measurement techniques
  • In situ recording of multi scale physical and chemical phenomena