Hyun-Sik Han

Deterioration Mode of Barium-Containing NOx Storage Catalyst

Barium-containing NOx storage catalyst showed serious deactivation under thermal exposure at high temperatures. To elucidate the thermal deterioration of the NOx storage catalyst, four types of model catalyst, Pt/Al2O3, Ba/Al2O3, Pt–Ba/Al2O3, and a physical mixture of Pt/Al2O3 + Ba/Al2O3 were prepared and their physicochemical properties such as BET, NO TPD, TGA/DSC, XRD, and XPS were evaluated while the thermal aging temperature was increased from 550 to 1050°C. The fresh Pt–Ba/Al2O3 showed a sorption capacity of 3.35 wt%/g-cat. but the aged one revealed a reduced capacity of 2.28 wt%/g-cat. corresponding to 68% of the fresh one. It was found that this reduced sorption capacity was directly related to the deterioration of the NOx storage catalyst by thermal aging. The Ba on Ba/Al2O3 and Pt–Ba/Al2O3 catalysts began to interact with alumina to form Ba–Al solid alloy above 600°C and then transformed into stable BaAl2O4 having a spinel structure. However, no phase transition was observed in the Pt/Al2O3 catalyst having no barium component, even after aging at 1050°C.

Low temperature activation of CO removal by O3-assisted catalysis.

Catalytic CO oxidation was activated at low temperature by injecting O3 as an additive. It was empirically confirmed that CO removal rate was dramatically enhanced by supplying a small amount of O3, and the reaction temperature was almost half that required for CO oxidation when using a catalyst only. By optimizing the concentration of O3, catalytic CO oxidation could be achieved within 1 min at low operational temperature. The removal rate of CO was sensitive to the concentration of O3, and a deduced reaction mechanism is discussed to explain how catalytic CO oxidation is activated but subsequently deactivated at higher O3 concentration. Moreover, the presence of C3H8 and C3H6 were considered to evaluate the effects of each gas on the enhancement of CO removal rate by O3. Finally, the rate of CO removal was evaluated with increasing O3 concentration for practical applications such as the cold-start problem in automobile engines.