Patent Application
20150147251
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to PGM catalyst systems, and, more particularly, to synergized PGM catalyst systems with lean performance improvement.
2. Background Information
Catalysts in catalytic converters have been used to decrease the pollution caused by exhaust from various sources, such as automobiles, utility plants, processing and manufacturing plants, airplanes, trains, all-terrain vehicles, boats, mining equipment, and other engine-equipped machines. Important pollutants in the exhaust gas of internal combustion engines may include carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particulate matter (PM). Several oxidation and reduction reactions take place in the catalytic converter, which is capable of removing the major pollutants HC, CO and NOx simultaneously, therefore, it is called a three-way catalyst.
Catalytic converters are generally fabricated using at least some platinum group metals (PGM). With the ever stricter standards for acceptable emissions, the demand on PGM continues to increase due to their efficiency in removing pollutants from exhaust. However, this demand, along with other demands for PGM, places a strain on the supply of PGM, which in turn drives up the cost of PGM and therefore catalysts and catalytic converters. Additionally, engines associated with TWC using PGM operate at or near stoichiometric conditions.
Catalytic materials used in TWC applications have also changed, and the new materials have to be thermally stable under the fluctuating exhaust gas conditions. The attainment of the requirements regarding the techniques to monitor the degree of the catalyst's deterioration/deactivation demands highly active and thermally stable catalysts in which fewer constituents may be provided to reduce manufacturing costs, offer additional economic alternatives, and maintain high performance materials with optimal thermal stability and enhanced performance due to its facile nature of the redox function of the used chemical components.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for combined catalyst systems that include low amounts of PGM catalysts, which may have facile nature of the redox function of the used chemical components, and which may exhibit optimal synergistic behavior yielding enhanced activity and performance especially under lean condition in order to allow fuel economy.
The present disclosure provides Synergized Platinum Group Metals (SPGM) catalyst systems which may exhibit high catalyst activity, especially under lean condition, and thus enhanced NO, CO and HC conversion.
According to an embodiment, SPGM catalyst system may include at least a substrate, a washcoat, and an overcoat, where substrate may include a ceramic material, washcoat may include a Cu—Mn spinel structure, Cu1.0Mn2.0O4, supported on Nb2O5—ZrO2, and overcoat may include PGM catalyst such as Palladium (Pd) supported on carrier material oxides, such as alumina.
Disclosed SPGM catalyst system may be prepared using suitable known in the art synthesis method, such as co-milling process, and co-precipitation process, among others.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, fresh and aged samples of disclosed SPGM catalyst system may be prepared in order to determine hydrothermal stability and catalyst activity of the SPGM catalyst system.
Catalyst activity and thermal stability in fresh and hydrothermally aged (900° C.) samples of disclosed SPGM catalyst system may be determined by performing steady state light off tests, steady state sweep tests, and isothermal steady state test under stoichiometric conditions and lean conditions, and compared to results of commercial PGM catalyst systems that include palladium, and rhodium.
SPGM catalyst system of the present disclosure show surprisingly significant improvement in nitrogen oxide conversion under stoichiometric operating conditions and especially under lean operating conditions which may allow reduced consumption of fuel. Additionally, disclosed SPGM catalyst system also enhances the reduction of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon within catalytic converters.
Numerous other aspects, features and benefits of the present disclosure may be made apparent from the following detailed description taken together with the drawing figures.
Non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure are described by way of example with reference to the accompanying figures which are schematic and are not intended to be drawn to scale. Unless indicated as representing the background art, the figures represent aspects of the disclosure.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, which are not to scale or to proportion, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings and claims, are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be used and/or and other changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure.
As used here, the following terms may have the following definitions:
“Catalyst system” refers to a system of at least two layers including at least one substrate, a washcoat, and/or an overcoat.
“Substrate” refers to any material of any shape or configuration that yields a sufficient surface area for depositing a washcoat and/or overcoat.
“Washcoat” refers to at least one coating including at least one oxide solid that may be deposited on a substrate.
“Overcoat” refers to at least one coating that may be deposited on at least one washcoat layer.
“Catalyst” refers to one or more materials that may be of use in the conversion of one or more other materials.
“Milling” refers to the operation of breaking a solid material into a desired grain or particle size.
“Co-precipitation” refers to the carrying down by a precipitate of substances normally soluble under the conditions employed.
“Calcination” refers to a thermal treatment process applied to solid materials, in presence of air, to bring about a thermal decomposition, phase transition, or removal of a volatile fraction at temperatures below the melting point of the solid materials.
“Platinum group metals (PGM)” refers to platinum, palladium, ruthenium, iridium, osmium, and rhodium.
“Synergized platinum group metal (SPGM) catalyst” refers to a PGM catalyst system which is synergized by a non-PGM group metal compound under different configuration.
“Oxygen storage material (OSM)” refers to a material able to take up oxygen from oxygen rich streams and able to release oxygen to oxygen deficient streams.
“Treating,” “treated,” or “treatment” refers to drying, firing, heating, evaporating, calcining, or mixtures thereof.
“Three-Way Catalyst” refers to a catalyst that may achieve three simultaneous tasks: reduce nitrogen oxides to nitrogen and oxygen, oxidize carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide, and oxidize unburnt hydrocarbons to carbon dioxide and water. “R-Value” refers to the number obtained by dividing the reducing potential by the oxidizing potential.
“Lean condition” refers to exhaust gas condition with an R-value below 1.
“Stoichiometric condition” refers to the condition when the oxygen of the combustion gas or air added equals the amount for completely combusting the fuel.
“T50” may refer to the temperature at which 50% of a material is converted.
“Conversion” refers to the chemical alteration of at least one material into one or more other materials.
The present disclosure may generally provide a synergized PGM (SPGM) catalyst system having enhanced catalytic performance especially under lean condition, incorporating more active components into phase materials possessing three-way catalyst (TWC) properties.
According to embodiments in the present disclosure, SPGM catalyst systems may be configured with a washcoat layer including Cu—Mn spinel with Niobium-Zirconia support oxide, an overcoat layer including a PGM catalyst of palladium (Pd) with alumina-based support, and suitable ceramic substrate.
Catalyst System Configuration
In an embodiment, substrate 102 materials may include a refractive material, a ceramic material, a honeycomb structure, a metallic material, a ceramic foam, a metallic foam, a reticulated foam, or suitable combinations, where substrate 102 may have a plurality of channels with suitable porosity. Porosity may vary according to the particular properties of substrate 102 materials. Additionally, the number of channels may vary depending upon substrate 102 used as is known in the art. The type and shape of a suitable substrate 102 would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. According to the present disclosure, preferred substrate 102 materials may be ceramic material.
According to an embodiment, washcoat 104 may include a Cu—Mn stoichiometric spinel, Cu1.0Mn2.0O4, as metal catalyst. Additionally, washcoat 104 may include support oxide, such as Nb2O5—ZrO2. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, overcoat 106 may include aluminum oxide, doped aluminum oxide, spinel, delafossite, lyonsite, garnet, perovksite, pyrochlore, doped ceria, fluorite, zirconium oxide, doped zirconia, titanium oxide, tin oxide, silicon dioxide, zeolite, and mixtures thereof. According to the present disclosure, most suitable material for disclosed overcoat 106 may be alumina (Al2O3). Additionally, overcoat 106 may include a PGM catalyst, such as Palladium (Pd), Platinum (Pt), and Rhodium (Rh). According to the present disclosure, most suitable PGM for disclosed overcoat 106 may be Pd.
An SPGM catalyst system 100 including a ceramic substrate 102, a washcoat 104, and an overcoat 106 may be prepared.
The preparation of washcoat 104 may begin by co-milling Nb2O5—ZrO2support oxide to make aqueous slurry. The Nb2O5—ZrO2support oxide may have Nb2O5 loadings of about 15% to about 30% by weight, preferably about 25% and ZrO2 loadings of about 70% to about 85% by weight, preferably about 75%.
The Cu—Mn solution may be prepared by mixing an appropriate amount of Mn nitrate solution (MnNO3) and Cu nitrate solution (CuNO3), where the suitable copper loadings may include loadings in a range of about 10% by weight to about 15% by weight. Suitable manganese loadings may include loadings in a range of about 15% by weight to about 25% by weight. The next step is precipitation of Cu—Mn nitrate solution on Nb2O5—ZrO2support oxide aqueous slurry, which may have a suitable base solution added thereto, such as to adjust the pH of the slurry to a suitable range. The precipitated Cu—Mn/Nb2O5—ZrO2 slurry may be aged for a period of time of about 12 to 24 hours under continued stirring at room temperature.
Subsequently, the precipitated slurry may be coated on substrate 102, using a cordierite material with honeycomb structure, where substrate 102 may have a plurality of channels with suitable porosity. The aqueous slurry of Cu—Mn/Nb2O5—ZrO2 may be deposited on the suitable ceramic substrate 102 to form washcoat 104, employing vacuum dosing and coating systems. In the present disclosure, a plurality of capacities of washcoat 104 loadings may be coated on the suitable ceramic substrate 102. The plurality of washcoat 104 loading may vary from about 60 g/L to about 200 g/L, in the present disclosure particularly about 120 g/L. Subsequently, after deposition on ceramic substrate 102 of the suitable loadings of Cu—Mn/Nb2O5—ZrO2 slurry, washcoat 104 may be dried overnight at about 120° C. and subsequently calcined at a suitable temperature within a range of about 550° C. to about 650° C., preferably at about 600° C. for about 5 hours. Treatment of washcoat 104 may be enabled employing suitable drying and heating processes. A commercially-available air knife drying systems may be employed for drying washcoat 104. Heat treatments (calcination) may be performed using commercially-available firing (furnace) systems.
A suitable washcoat 104 deposited on substrate 102 may have a chemical composition with a total loading of about 120 g/L, including a Cu—Mn spinel structure with copper loading of about 10 g/L to about 15 g/L and manganese loading of about 20 g/L to about 25 g/L.
Overcoat 106 may include a combination of Pd on alumina-based support. The preparation of overcoat 106 may begin by milling the alumina-based support oxide separately to make an aqueous slurry. Subsequently, a solution of Pd nitrate may then be mixed with the aqueous slurry of alumina with a loading within a range from about 0.5 g/ft3 to about 10 g/ft3. In the present embodiment, Pd loading is about 6 g/ft3 and total loading of washcoat material is 120 g/L. After mixing of Pd and alumina slurry, Pd may be locked down with an appropriate amount of one or more base solutions, such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution, sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) solution, ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) solution, and tetraethyl ammonium hydroxide (TEAH) solution, among others. In the present embodiment, Pd may be locked down using a base solution of tetraethyl ammonium hydroxide (TEAH). No pH adjustment is required. Then, the resulting slurry may be aged from about 12 hours to about 24 hours for subsequent coating as overcoat 106 on washcoat 104, dried and fired at about 550° C. for about 4 hours.
Catalyst activity of disclosed SPGM catalyst system 100 may be determined and compared with catalyst activity of commercial PGM catalyst system 100 that includes palladium (Pd) and rhodium (Rh); in amounts of about 6 g/ft3of Pd, and 6 g/ft3 of Rh, using loading of about 60% by weight. The OSM within commercial PGM catalyst system 100 may include several rare metals, mostly CeO2, with loading of about 30% by weight to about 40% by weight.
Steady state light-off test 200 shows the performance in NO, CO, and HC conversion of fresh and aged samples of disclosed SPGM catalyst system 100 with procedures previously described. Aged samples of SPGM catalyst system 100 have been prepared by hydrothermal aging with 10% steam at about 900° C. for about 4 hours.
To facilitate comparison, NO conversion curve 202 has been designated with dash lines, CO conversion curve 204 has been designated with dot and dash lines, and HC conversion curve 206 has been designated with a solid line.
As may be seen in
Moreover, as may be observed in
According to principles of the present disclosure, disclosed SPGM catalyst system 100 demonstrated good catalytic activity in TWC condition compared under stoichiometric condition for both fresh and aged samples of disclosed SPGM catalyst system 100.
According to an embodiment, a steady state sweep test may be performed on fresh samples of disclosed SPGM catalyst system 100 and thermally aged (900° C.) samples of disclosed SPGM catalyst system 100 to determine NO and CO cross over, and therefore select the R-value where highest conversion of NO and CO meets together.
The isothermal steady state sweep test may be carried out employing a flow reactor in which the inlet temperature may be increased to about 450° C., and testing a gas stream at 11-point R-values from about 2.0 (rich condition) to about 0.80 (lean condition) to measure the CO, NO, and HC conversions.
The space velocity (SV) in the flow reactor may be adjusted at about 40,000 h−1. The gas feed employed for the test may be a standard TWC gas composition, with variable O2 concentration in order to adjust R-value from rich condition to lean condition during testing. The standard TWC gas composition may include about 8,000 ppm of CO, about 400 ppm of C3H6, about 100 ppm of C3H8, about 1,000 ppm of NOR, about 2,000 ppm of H2, 10% of CO2, and 10% of H2O. The quantity of O2 in the gas mix may be varied to adjust Air/Fuel (A/F) ratio and to represent the three-way condition of the control loop.
As may be seen in
Isothermal steady state sweep test results 300 for fresh samples of disclosed SPGM catalyst system 100 and aged samples of disclosed SPGM catalyst system 100 show that SPGM catalyst is very active at lean condition closer to stoichiometric. The similar NO, CO, and HC conversion of disclosed SPGM catalyst after aging demonstrates thermal stability of this catalyst.
In
Isothermal Steady State Test under Stoichiometric Conditions
According to an embodiment, the isothermal steady state sweep test was performed employing a test reactor at temperature of about 450° C. Steady state isothermal test. Steady state isothermal test was conducted under stoichiometric conditions (R-value of 1.00), at a space velocity (SV) of 40,000 h−1, and during a length of time of about 60 minutes (3600 sec).
The simulated exhaust was a standard TWC gas composition that may include 8,000 ppm of CO, 400 ppm of C3H6, 100 ppm of C3H8, 1000 ppm of NOR, 2000 ppm of H2, 10% of CO2, 10% of H2O, and a quantity of O2 in the gas mix to adjust Air/Fuel (A/F) ratio at stoichiometric condition.
According to an embodiment, the steady state isothermal test was performed employing a test reactor at temperature of about 450° C. Isothermal steady state test was conducted under lean condition (R-value of 0.95), at a space velocity (SV) of 40,000 h−, and during a length of time of about 60 minutes (3600 sec).
The simulated exhaust was a standard TWC gas composition that may include 8,000 ppm of CO, 400 ppm of C3H6, 100 ppm of C3H8, 1000 ppm of NOR, 2000 ppm of H2, 10% of CO2, 10% of H2O, and a quantity of O2 in the gas mix to adjust Air/Fuel (A/F) ratio at lean condition.
In
As may be observed in performance comparison between SPGM catalyst system 100 and PGM catalyst system 100, shown in
While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed, other aspects and embodiments may be contemplated. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed here are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/909,915, filed Nov. 26, 2013, entitled “Method for Improving Lean Performance of PGM Catalyst Systems: Synergized PGM”, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. The present disclosure is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/090861, entitled “System and Methods for Using Synergized PGM as a Three-Way Catalyst”, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/090887, entitled “Oxygen Storage Capacity and Thermal Stability of Synergized PGM Catalyst System”, as well as U.S. Patent Application entitled “Systems and Methods for Managing a Synergistic Relationship between PGM and Copper-Manganese in a Three Way Catalyst Systems”, all filed Nov. 26, 2013, the entireties of which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14090915 | Nov 2013 | US |
| Child | 14500387 | US |
