Selective catalytic reduction of NO and NO2 at low temperatures

The fast SCR reaction using equimolar amounts of NO and NO2 is a powerful means to enhance the NOx conversion over a given SCR catalyst. NO2 fractions in excess of 50% of total NOx should be avoided because the reaction with NO2 only is slower than the standard SCR reaction. At temperatures below 200 °C, due to its negative temperature coefficient, the ammonium nitrate reaction gets increasingly important. Half of each NH3 and NO2 react to form dinitrogen and water in analogy to a typical SCR reaction. The other half of NH3 and NO2 form ammonium nitrate in close analogy to a NOx storage-reduction catalyst. Ammonium nitrate tends to deposit in solid or liquid form in the pores of the catalyst and this will lead to its temporary deactivation. The various reactions have been studied experimentally in the temperature range 150–450 °C for various NO2/NOx ratios. The fate of the deposited ammonium nitrate during a later reheating of the catalyst has also been investigated. In the absence of NO, the thermal decomposition yields mainly ammonia and nitric acid. If NO is present, its reaction with nitric acid on the catalyst will cause the formation of NO2.