NOX STRIPPING FROM SPARK IGNITION AUTOMOTIVE ENGINE EXHAUST ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH CORPORATION

APPROXIMATEL HALF OF AUTOMOTIVE NOX IS RELEASED IN THE INITIAL MINUTES AFTER STARTUP, WHEN THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER IS COLD, AND IS A SIGNIFICANT SOURCE OF ACID RAIN. THIS PROJECT WILL DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF REVERSIBLY ADSORBING THIS "COLD-START" NOX IN A SORBENT BED AND SUBSEQUENTLY RELEASING THE NOX INTO A THREE-WAY CATALYTIC CONVERTER TO BE REDUCED. THIS COULD REDUCE THE ENVIRONMENTAL NOX BURDEN IN MANY URBAN AREAS BY AS MUCH AS 25%. IT COULD ALSO PERMIT THE USE OF "LEAN-START" ENGINES, WHICH HAVE THE ADDED ADVANTAGE OF REDUCING CO AND HYDROCARBON EMISSIONS. THIS DEVICE WOULD BE SIMILAR IN DESIGN TO EXISTING CATALYTIC CONVERTERS. PHASE I WILL ADDRESS THE TECHNICAL QUESTIONS NEEDED TO DETERMINE FEASIBILITY. THESE INCLUDE DETERMINING THE CAPACITY OF THE SORBENT, THE TEMPERATURE/PARTIAL PRESSURE RELATIONSHIP (ADSORPTION ISOTHERMS), THE KINETICS OF NOX ADSORPTION, THERMAL OR CHEMICAL DEACTIVATION OF THE ADSORBENT, AND ANY NEGATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS. THE EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CARRIED OUT IN AN ISOTHERMAL PACKED BED REACTOR WITH ON-LINE INSTRUMENTAL GAS ANALYSIS. IN DEMONSTRATING FEASIBILITY THE PHASE I EFFORT WILL PRODUCE A MODEL OF SORBENT BEHAVIOR TO ALLOW DESIGN OF A PILOT-SCALE UNIT FOR DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION IN SUBSEQUENT PHASE II RESEARCH.