Researchers achieve low-temperature ignition for diesel soot elimination

The soot ignition temperature is compared to conventional thermal catalysts. NIMTE is a credit.

Researchers have developed a strategy to decrease the temperature of soot by using metal oxides as catalysts. The results were published in Nature Catalysis.

The research was done by two groups, one at the NMITE and the other at Jinan University.

Diesel soot particulate emissions can cause severe health and environmental problems if they are not reduced. Diesel vehicles in urban areas are too cold for soot to belch out of them, because exhaust temperatures are too low.

Jinan University and NIMTE collaborated to design an electric strategy for soot combustion. Conductive metal oxides with good oxidation resistance were used as catalysts.

The researchers said that 53 percent of the soot in the mixture was burned within a few minutes at T50. The dependence of electrification on contact conditions is less than that of the conventional thermal process.

The thermal process consumes more energy than the electrification process, with an energy-saving rate of one to two orders of magnitude.

Two key mechanisms for the performance were illuminated, one of which is the release of lattice oxygen from catalysts, which accounts for the rapid soot ignition at low temperatures, and the other is the opposite fluidization between the catalyst and soot particles, which is responsible for the catalyst–soot contact efficiency

The common issue of all automotive after-treatment at low exhaust temperatures has been solved by the breakthrough in the ignition temperature for soot.

The strategy could be integrated into the design of hybrid electric vehicles by virtue of onboard electric power systems.

The Decreasing of the catalytic ignition temperature of diesel soot using electrified conductive oxide catalysts is a research project. The DOI is 10.1038/s41929-021-00702-1.

Nature catalysis is in a journal.

Researchers achieved low-temperature ignition for diesel soot elimination on January 10, 2022.

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