Title: Nitrous oxide emissions from a medium-duty diesel truck exhaust system

Authors: Christine Lambert; Douglas Dobson; Christine Gierczak; Gang Guo; Justin Ura; James Warner

Addresses: Department of Chemical Engineering, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering, P.O. Box 2053, MD 3179 RIC Dearborn, MI 48121, USA ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering, P.O. Box 2053, MD 3179 RIC Dearborn, MI 48121, USA ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering, P.O. Box 2053, MD 3179 RIC Dearborn, MI 48121, USA ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering, P.O. Box 2053, MD 3179 RIC Dearborn, MI 48121, USA ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering, P.O. Box 2053, MD 3179 RIC Dearborn, MI 48121, USA ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering, P.O. Box 2053, MD 3179 RIC Dearborn, MI 48121, USA

Abstract: Starting in 2010, medium-duty diesel trucks in the USA were introduced with aftertreatment systems that contained precious metal oxidation catalysts, soot filters, and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems for control of nitrogen oxides (NO, NO₂). While modern diesel aftertreatment systems have high performance for meeting hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide (CO), NOx, and particulate matter, there is some concern over emission of nitrous oxide (N₂O) that can be formed within the exhaust system. N₂O has an atmospheric lifetime of approximately 114 years and is 298 times more effective than CO₂ at trapping heat in the atmosphere. In this study, the sources of N₂O were compared in the laboratory flow reactor and at the system level on diesel trucks. The interactions of HC with NOx on the DOC and NOx with NH₃ within the SCR catalyst were the predominant mechanisms for N₂O formation. The composite N₂O mass emission was calculated to be approximately 43 mg/mi, resulting in an equivalent CO₂ penalty of about 2%, similar to the 1% to 3% penalty estimated for the global light-duty vehicle fleet.

Keywords: diesel aftertreatment; diesel catalysts; greenhouse gases; GHG emissions; nitrous oxide; N2O emissions; selective catalytic reduction; urea SCR; vehicle emissions; medium-duty trucks; diesel trucks; truck exhaust systems; NOx.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPT.2014.059410

International Journal of Powertrains, 2014 Vol.3 No.1, pp.4 - 25

Received: 20 Apr 2012
Accepted: 29 Oct 2012
Published online: 21 Jun 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article