Research on metal doped zeolite as catalyst to reduce NOX emission from lean burn gasoline engines

Abstract

Lean burn gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines are the most preferred gasoline engines because of their low fuel consumption and high thermal efficiency. However, these engines produce exhaust gases that are particularly rich in oxygen and therefore the present three-way catalytic converter (TWC) is not suitable for converting the generated NOX emission into Nitrogen gases. In this present work, a new method of reducing Nitrogen Oxides emission in a gasoline engine is attempted by using an ordinary oxidation catalyst together with a deNOX(zeolite-based) catalyst. In this work, Na-form of ZSM-5 zeolite was used as a catalyst and cupric chloride (CuCl2) and ferric chloride (FeCl3) where used as transition metals. Cu-ZSM5 and Fe-ZSM5 catalyst were prepared separately in our laboratory. Na+ ion exchange method is used to prepare the catalyst. After that Cu-ZSM% and Fe- ZSM5 catalyst were washcoated separately onto the blank monoliths. Oxidation monoliths (for oxidation of CO and HC into CO2 and H2O) were purchased directly from market. One oxidation monolith and one zeolite coated monolith were placed in a stainless steel container and canned with inlet and outlet cones (forming catalytic convertor). Experiments were conducted on a 2 cylinder Multi Point Port Fuel Injection engine along with a dynamometer. Exhaust emissions such as NOX, CO, HC, O2, CO2 were measured with AVL Di-gas-444 Analyzer. Exhaust gas temperature is measured with the use of a thermocouple. Firstly load tests (4, 7, 10, 13, and 16KW) were conducted on the engine without catalytic convertor was fixed close to the outlet pipe and the test were conducted again with same loading condition as mentioned above. Then by the same above procedure is followed to conduct test with Cu-ZSM5 and Fe-ZSM5 catalytic convertors. From the results it is observed that both Cu and Fe zeolite catalyst minimize emissions than the commercial catalytic converter.